A diet jab that can help women drop two dress sizes was approved by watchdogs yesterday.
Described by doctors as life-changing, liraglutide could be on prescription in months.
Slimmers typically lose almost a stone more than they would by simply counting calories and exercising more. Some severely obese patients dropped so much weight they ditched their wheelchairs and walked for the first time in years.
Packing almost twice the power of rival drugs, liraglutide also lowers blood pressure, raises good cholesterol and prevents diabetes.
It even produces a feel-good factor, making dieting a pleasure. Liraglutide’s maker, Novo Nordisk of Denmark, will apply for it to be prescribed on the NHS after yesterday’s ruling by the European drugs regulator that it is safe and effective.
There are fears however that Nice – Britain’s drugs rationing body – will judge it too expensive for routine use.
Liraglutide costs from £2.25 a day – roughly double the price of Orlistat, the only other prescription diet drug.
Patients inject the drug into their stomach before breakfast every day. It works by suppressing appetite.
Obesity levels have doubled over the past two decades, making the UK the second-fattest nation in Europe. Being obese can knock up to nine years off a lifespan and raises the risk of a host of health problems including diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer.
Liraglutide, which will be given the brand name Saxenda, is already used at a lower dose to treat diabetes. Based on a hormone found in the gut, it sends signals to the brain that trick it into feeling full. As a result, people eat 10 per cent less food than normal.
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