{"id":803685,"date":"2026-10-15T19:16:19","date_gmt":"2026-10-15T19:16:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/803685\/"},"modified":"2026-10-15T19:16:19","modified_gmt":"2026-10-15T19:16:19","slug":"hse-considering-reimbursing-weight-loss-drug-mounjaro-the-irish-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/803685\/","title":{"rendered":"HSE considering reimbursing weight-loss drug Mounjaro \u2013 The Irish Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

The HSE<\/a> is considering reimbursing more weight-loss drugs, known as GLP-1 medications, after receiving a number of applications. <\/p>\n

The HSE drugs group met on Tuesday to discuss Mounjaro<\/a> but has not yet made a recommendation.<\/p>\n

\u201cApplications have been made for reimbursement of a number of GLP-1 medications, and these are currently being considered within the HSE\u2019s drugs reimbursement process which encompasses clinical, cost effectiveness and budgetary issues,\u201d a statement said.<\/p>\n

The HSE said its corporate pharmaceutical unit \u2013 which liaises between the executive and pharmaceutical industry \u2013 \u201cwill be involved in negotiations with the manufacturers on pricing in line with normal practice\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis process can take some time and there may be a number of meetings of the drugs group before a recommendation may be made to the HSE senior management team,\u201d the statement continued.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0How the rise of Ozempic is reversing the progress on body positivityOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Weight-loss drugs such as Mounjaro, Ozempic<\/a> and Wegovy<\/a> are available privately for type-2 diabetes<\/a> and weight management. They range in price from about \u20ac130 to \u20ac600 per month, depending on the brand and dosage.<\/p>\n

Sax\u00adenda, which is injec\u00adted daily, is the only form of GLP-1 ther\u00adapy that is reim\u00adbursed for weight loss by the HSE<\/a>. This means it is free under the med\u00adical card or sub\u00adsid\u00adised for private patients on the Drugs Pay\u00adment Scheme, which has a cost limit of \u20ac80 per month.<\/p>\n

More than 45,000 people are get\u00adting Ozempic for free under the Long-Term Ill\u00adness Scheme, with more than 8,000 receiv\u00ading it under the medical card. However, it is only available under these schemes for the treatment of type-2 diabetes.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0GLP-1s in Ireland: How weight-loss medications work under the HSE systemOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

The HSE said the State\u2019s approach to GLP-1 medications \u201calso raises important matters of health policy which will require discussions over the coming months with the Department of Health and other key stakeholders on the potential overall impact on the health budget\u201d. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe outcome of these discussions will also need to be considered by the HSE in finalising the approach to reimbursement of these drugs.\u201d<\/p>\n

In December 2025, the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics<\/a> (NCPE) said Mounjaro was not cost-effective but that the HSE should consider reimbursing it if it could agree a price reduction<\/a> with the manufacturer, Eli Lilly<\/a>.<\/p>\n

[\u00a0Inside the Irish factory at the centre of the global weight-loss revolutionOpens in new window<\/a>\u00a0]<\/p>\n

Prof Michael Barry, who leads the NCPE, said earlier this year that Eli Lilly had made an offer for a significant price reduction that would make the drug cost-effective, or close to it.<\/p>\n

However, he warned it could still cost the State between \u20ac2 billion and \u20ac3 billion over five years. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The HSE is considering reimbursing more weight-loss drugs, known as GLP-1 medications, after receiving a number of applications.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":803686,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[5573,35919,102,9045,7156,6591,1692,263133,578,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-803685","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-diabetes","tag-eli-lilly","tag-health","tag-health-service-executive-hse","tag-hse","tag-medication","tag-mounjaro","tag-national-centre-for-pharmacoeconomics-ncpe","tag-ozempic","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=803685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/803685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/803686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=803685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=803685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=803685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}