US pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly has signed a major investment deal with the UK to explore whether weight loss drugs can be used to curb unemployment. The weight loss treatment company and the developers of Zepbound Medication announced on Monday that it will invest £279 million to help address the UK's major health challenges — including, of course, obesity. Eli Lilly's “strategic partnership” with the UK Department of Health and Social Care and the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology is part of a broader £63 billion investment plan announced by the UK Labour government at the end of the first International Investment Summit on Monday. According to the agreement, Eli Lilly will launch a “real world” study aimed at understanding how tesipatide affects weight loss, diabetes prevention, and prevention of obesity-related complications to better inform the UK National Health Service's response to obesity. Eli Lilly said in a press release that the five-year trial conducted in collaboration with Manchester Health Innovations will also explore how weight loss drugs affect “the employment status and number of sick days of participants in the trial.” Professor Rachel Batterham, senior vice president of medical affairs at Eli Lilly International, said, “This collaboration will increase the evidence base for the real-world impact of obesity treatment on the health of obese patients, and will explore a wide range of results, including health-related quality of life and the impact on individual employment status. UK Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Stirling said this partnership is “the key to building a healthier society, a healthier economy, and adapting the UK National Health Service to the future.” The UK is battling a stubbornly high “rate of economic inactivity,” defined as those who are neither working nor looking for work. Nearly one-third of claims for unemployment benefits are due to long-term illnesses, including pre-existing health conditions such as obesity, which have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.

US pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly has signed a major investment deal with the UK to explore whether weight loss drugs can be used to curb unemployment. The weight loss treatment company and the developers of Zepbound Medication announced on Monday that it will invest £279 million to help address the UK's major health challenges — including, of course, obesity. Eli Lilly's “strategic partnership” with the UK Department of Health and Social Care and the Department of Science, Innovation and Technology is part of a broader £63 billion investment plan announced by the UK Labour government at the end of the first International Investment Summit on Monday. According to the agreement, Eli Lilly will launch a “real world” study aimed at understanding how tesipatide affects weight loss, diabetes prevention, and prevention of obesity-related complications to better inform the UK National Health Service's response to obesity. Eli Lilly said in a press release that the five-year trial conducted in collaboration with Manchester Health Innovations will also explore how weight loss drugs affect “the employment status and number of sick days of participants in the trial.” Professor Rachel Batterham, senior vice president of medical affairs at Eli Lilly International, said, “This collaboration will increase the evidence base for the real-world impact of obesity treatment on the health of obese patients, and will explore a wide range of results, including health-related quality of life and the impact on individual employment status. UK Health and Social Care Secretary Wes Stirling said this partnership is “the key to building a healthier society, a healthier economy, and adapting the UK National Health Service to the future.” The UK is battling a stubbornly high “rate of economic inactivity,” defined as those who are neither working nor looking for work. Nearly one-third of claims for unemployment benefits are due to long-term illnesses, including pre-existing health conditions such as obesity, which have been exacerbated by the COVID-19 pandemic.