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NHS diabetes treatment spending reaches £1.92 billion as new medications become available

August 22, 2025 – Clinical Trials – diabetes

The NHS Business Services Authority’s annual ‘Prescribing for Diabetes – England 2015/16 to 2024/25’ report reveals that diabetes treatments now account for 15% of all NHS prescription spending, up from 10% in 2015/16 when costs were £960 million.

Anti-diabetic drugs costs have risen by 18% in the last year. A significant factor in this year’s cost increase is Tirzepatide, branded as Mounjaro, which has emerged as a new driver of spending growth alongside established treatments like Dapagliflozin (Forxiga). From 2023/24 to 2024/25, the cost of Tirzepatide increased 340-fold to £120 million and Dapagliflozin costs increased 42% to £333 million.

Anti-diabetic drugs were the most prescribed treatment for diabetes, making up 59% of prescribed items and 75% of the total cost of diabetes treatments at a cost of £1.1 billion.

The rising costs coincide with record patient numbers, as 3.9 million people now receive diabetes treatment in England – a 7% increase from 3.6 million in 2023/24. Prescription items reached 77 million in 2024/25, up 9% from the previous year and 56% higher than the 50 million items prescribed in 2015/16.

Key findings also show that:

the overall cost of prescribed items for treating diabetes has increased by 15% from £1.67 billion to £1.92 billion.
health inequalities persist. Areas with higher deprivation levels had 349,000 more diabetes patients than the least deprived areas.
men aged 60 to 64 represent the largest patient group, with 284,000 people accounting for 7% of all identified cases.
patient numbers have grown by an average of 6% annually over the past three years.
Tirzepatide, branded as Mounjaro, was prescribed to 188,065 identified patients in 2024/25 compared to 2,242 in 2023/24.

To read the full statistics publication, go to: www.nhsbsa.nhs.uk/statistical-collections/prescribing-diabetes-england/prescribing-diabetes-england-201516-202425.