Australia’s Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has given the green light to GPs to prescribe tirzepatide, sold as Mounjaro, as a treatment for overweight and obesity.
The drug was already an approved treatment for type 2 diabetes.
Tirzepatide works by targeting the area of the brain that regulates appetite, slowing down the emptying of the stomach, meaning people feel fuller quicker and for longer.
Dr Natasha Yates, a GP and PhD candidate at Bond University, cautioned that Mounjaro was “one tool in a toolkit” that doctors have to help overweight patients and not a cure for obesity.
“The problem with obesity is that it is chronic and it is multifactorial,” Dr Yates said.
“That means there are many things contributing to it, so there's not going to be one answer to it.
“These (drugs) don't cure obesity, they simply control weight, so they should never be prescribed by themselves.”
Dr Yates said Mounjaro was not a “quick fix” because as soon as people stopped taking it, they would regain weight and the benefits of the previous weight loss would be lost.
“We need to have a really good look at what we're doing as a community and as a society to support people who are living in larger bodies,” she said.
“A lot of it comes down to access to healthy food. It is much cheaper to buy highly processed food than it is to get access to foods that will be nutritious, not just filling.
“And as far as exercise goes, we know that is very powerful - not so much in taking weight off, but in keeping weight off.
“I know a lot of GPs are happy that this (Mounjaro) is now available as one of the things we can offer our patients, but nobody's looking at it as the answer to the weight issues that we have in Australia.”
The TGA has made Mounjaro eligible to adults with an initial body mass index (BMI) of ≥30 kg/m2 or ≥27 kg/m2 in the presence of at least one weight-related condition, such as hypertension, dyslipidaemia, obstructive sleep apnoea, cardiovascular disease, pre-diabetes or type 2 diabetes.
Mounjaro is not available through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) but only by private prescription, with prices beginning at $395 per month for the first dose.