HSE told €5.2bn cost of Mounjaro weight-loss drug is too high to fund for most patients

Professor Michael Barry, clinical director for the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics, said he had never seen such a high cost for a drug. File picture: Niall Carson/PA Wire

The cost of weight-loss drug Mounjaro is currently too high for the HSE to justify covering it for a large number of people, it has been advised.

Professor Michael Barry, clinical director for the National Centre for Pharmacoeconomics (NCPE), has completed an assessment of the drug, which is known as the King Kong of weight-loss drugs because of its effectiveness.