Occasionally, a breakthrough comes along that fundamentally transforms the medical landscape, to the extent that it is difficult to imagine what life was like before it emerged. In 1928, it was penicillin. Twenty years later, it was chemotherapy. In the 1990s, it was anti-retrovirals for HIV. Now, some doctors have equally high hopes for the rapid development of weight-loss medications for the obesity crisis.
The latest incidence of this in the UK came last week, when health secretary Wes Streeting announced that drugs like Wegovy or Mounjaro could be given to unemployed people to help them get back into work.
