People have raised concerns over what is being described as a “dystopian” weight loss trial on unemployed people in the UK.
Wes Streeting has accepted £280 million from a pharma company to trial an injectable weight-loss drug on those out of work in a move that has been compared to something out of a “dystopian sci-fi novel”.
The Labour minister described new medicines as potentially “life-changing” for individuals and praised the potential impact they could have on the NHS.
In an opinion piece for the Telegraph, Streeting said: “Our widening waistbands are also placing significant burden on our health service.
“The long-term benefits of these drugs could be monumental in our approach to tackling obesity.”
Illnesses relating to obesity cost the NHS £11 billion a year, and weight loss jabs could help ease the strain on the health service, it has been argued.
But people have raised concerns over a £279 million investment from Lilly, the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, to fund the trial.
One person compared it to the United States in 2014, where a series of scandals broke out about pharma companies doing phase one drug testing on homeless people and the poor.
Others described the move as “dystopian” and “unnerving”.
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