Notice

Obesity Healthcare Goals

Published 6 December 2024

What we do

Obesity is one of the most pressing challenges facing our health system - approximately 1 in 3 people in the UK currently live with obesity. As a leading cause of multiple long-term conditions, including cardiovascular disease and cancer, obesity is estimated to cost the NHS over £11.4 billion every year, with wider societal costs estimated at £74.3 billion annually due to ill health.

In November 2022, the Government launched the Obesity Healthcare Goals programme. The programme will explore how new and potentially transformative treatments and technologies can be developed and deployed to support people living with obesity. Its aim is to improve long-term health outcomes for people living with obesity and its associated conditions, while ensuring that the UK remains a world-class location to trial, pilot, and roll out innovations.

As a first step, in 2023, we launched a competition, through the National Institute for Health and Care Research, to develop a Phase 2 pre-licence platform to evaluate pharmaceutical and digital interventions for obesity.

More recently, in October 2024, the Government signed a landmark agreement with Eli Lilly, the world’s largest pharmaceutical company, that will see the company invest £279 million in the UK. The collaboration will be a key initiative of the Obesity Healthcare Goals programme and aims to set the stage for government to work with industry to trial innovative approaches to treating obesity as part of a rounded package of care.

Who we are

The Obesity Healthcare Goals programme is Chaired by Professor Naveed Sattar.

I am delighted to chair the Obesity Healthcare Goals as obesity is perhaps the major cause of multiple long-term conditions in the UK.  I want to help promote the UK as an excellent place to do obesity research with its connectivity, high quality health records and academic talent. There are few places better for companies than the UK to best determine the benefits of new weight loss methods – be they technological or pharmaceutical – for people and society.

Professor Naveed Sattar, October 2023.

Naveed Sattar, Chair of the Obesity Healthcare Goals.

Naveed Sattar is a medical researcher and Professor of Metabolic Medicine at the School of Cardiovascular & Metabolic Health at the University of Glasgow and is clinically active in cardiometabolic disease treatment and prevention as an Honorary Consultant at the Glasgow Royal Infirmary.

With over 25 years of academic experience and a remarkable track record of collaboration across a number of medical fields, Naveed is recognised as a world leading expert on obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Naveed enjoys challenging conventional wisdom, and his research on the pathogenesis, assessment and treatment of cardiometabolic conditions has helped shape clinical practice across the UK and Europe, leading to new insights in several areas.  He has also contributed to eight clinical guidelines for the treatment of cardiometabolic conditions, including obesity.

With over 1300 published papers authored Naveed has been in the top 1% of cited clinical academics in the world since 2014, receiving several national and international prizes for his research.  He has also extensively contributed to clinically significant trials in the field – both lifestyle interventions and pharmaceutical trials – as well as mechanistic insights behind the impact of weight loss in several conditions.

Further information and relevant links

• Government to use Vaccine Taskforce model to tackle health challenges.

• New obesity treatments and technology to save the NHS billions.

• 23/92 EME Application Development Award - Industry engagement for a Phase 2 pre-licence platform to evaluate pharmaceutical and digital interventions for obesity.

• Landmark collaboration with largest pharmaceutical company.

Contact details

You can contact the Obesity Healthcare Goals by email: healthcaregoals@officeforlifesciences.gov.uk