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LONDON — A U.K. government agency on Tuesday said that it won’t recommend Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro — part of a new class of medications that help patients lose weight — for people with type 2 diabetes without additional evidence.

Mounjaro, also known as tirzepatide, has U.S. approval for type 2 diabetes and is expected to win the regulatory green light for obesity later this year. It is one of several medications, along with Wegovy and Ozempic from Novo Nordisk, that have shown dramatic weight loss results, creating a surge in demand and blockbuster sales expectations.

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But in draft guidance, the U.K.’s National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, which assesses the cost-effectiveness of medications, said it had asked Lilly for more data “to address the uncertainties in the clinical evidence, when compared to all relevant alternative treatments.” NICE recommendations are used by the National Health Service to determine whether to provide certain medications.

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