Sammi Hill, 33, from Nottingham, was 18st 3lbs and a size 22 after back-to-back pregnancies with her daughters, but lost 4st in just over a year with the help of Mounjaro
A mum-of-three who credits her life to Mounjaro has been left devastated after the price of the jabs skyrocketed by £80 a month. Sammi Hill, 33, was always slender but piled on 8st following consecutive pregnancies with her daughters.
Weighing in at 18st 3lbs, Sammi, hailing from Mapperley, Nottingham, found it challenging to shed the pounds despite numerous diet attempts and battled with depression and suicidal thoughts. As a ‘last resort’, she turned to Mounjaro in July 2024 and the beauty business owner managed to lose an impressive 4st by August, thanks to the £150 a month 7.5mg injections.
However, this month saw the price soar to £230 a month – pushing it beyond her budget and forcing her to cease taking the medication, with 4st still to go to reach her target weight.
Sammi, also mother to Theo, 11, and Gracie, five, said: “I went to order more after my honeymoon and I saw the price hikes. So I’ve signed up for the gym and I’m going to try to do it naturally because my mindset is a lot better now.
“But the cost is ridiculous now – this is someone’s pathway to a better life and I feel grateful to have got halfway so that now I can do it on my own. Mounjaro saved my life and it makes me feel sad that other people won’t be able to afford that opportunity.”
Sammi, a mum of two, had been battling health and mobility issues since the birth of her daughters Gracie in 2019 and Nyla in 2020. Initially attributing her low spirits to postnatal depression, she found herself still grappling with these feelings by 2023. Over the years, she became increasingly self-conscious, avoiding mirrors and photographs, and growing distant from her family.
She said: “I tried diets, but I struggled to stick to them and I’m not really an exercise person. I felt embarrassed, I didn’t want to talk to anyone and I was not present with my kids.
“I ended up hating myself – the only thing that kept me here was my family. But I think if it continued, the worst probably would have happened.”
Despite being referred to a therapist, Sammi’s struggles persisted. She admitted: “I felt like everyone else looked fantastic and there was me just looking like a whale.”
However, things took a turn when she discovered Mounjaro, a weight loss aid, in July 2024. After purchasing a £120 starter pack, she began to see results and gradually increased her dosage.
By August this year, she had lost four stone and was halfway to her pre-pregnancy goal weight. She paused the treatment for a month to celebrate her wedding and honeymoon with her now-husband Adam Hill, 34.
Eager to lose the remaining four stone and reach her target weight of 10st 6lbs, she planned to resume the jabs, but was met with a hurdle.
Sammi said: “I looked to restart the jabs in September. But it had gone from £120 to £160 for a month’s supply of the starting dose of 2.5mg.
“I could still afford that, but then when I needed to up the dose further along, I wouldn’t be able to. A month’s supply of 7.5mg jabs, that I was on before, was £230.”
Fortunately for Sammi, the transformation the injections brought about during her initial 11 months left her feeling sufficiently confident to continue the journey independently.
She explained: “For me, I know it’s not impossible for me to lose weight alone now I know what I need to do. I know I need to work and it’s not just a miracle fat-burning drug – although if I need help, I might try Ozempic. My partner and I have joined the gym and we’re going to be each other’s cheerleaders.”
Sammi continued: “People say the jabs are ‘cheating’. But when you’re at the point where you don’t want to get out of bed or look in the mirror, why would you diet or exercise?”.
“I’ve got a friend, bless her, she only did a month on Mounjaro and felt great, but she’s already coming off it because of the prices. It makes me feel sad that people can’t get the experience that I did now.”
The company behind Mounjaro has provided a reduced-price arrangement to UK distributors, which is anticipated to restrict the cost rise to consumers from this month.
Eli Lilly announced in August it was raising the list price of the medication by as much as 170%, which could have resulted in the expense of the highest dose climbing from £122 to £330 per month. However, it has since been reported that the highest dose will be sold to suppliers for £247.50.
Eli Lilly initially stated that the UK price of Mounjaro had to increase to align more with higher prices in Europe and the US. Despite Mounjaro being available on the NHS, estimates suggest about 90% of people on weight-loss jabs pay for them privately online and through high street pharmacies.