Obesity and fatty liver disease are two of the most pressing public health challenges facing the UK today. In our response to the Parliamentary Health and Social Care Committee’s (HSCC) Inquiry into Food and Weight Management, we highlighted the urgent need for action.
We submitted our response to the Parliamentary HSCC’s Inquiry into Food and Weight Management on the 28th of August. The Inquiry is a critical investigation into how the Government can better tackle the obesity epidemic and use the new wave of obesity medications, such as Wegovy and Mounjaro (GLP-1s).
We shared the story of Stephen, to highlight the patient experience, who was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 2000 and told he had a fatty liver in 2014, but “not to worry about it”. He received a liver scan two years later after which no further action was taken. It was only when Stephen was admitted to hospital in 2024 for an unrelated condition that he was diagnosed with fatty liver disease and sadly died a few weeks later aged 62 from the disease.
New medications represent a promising future for treating MASLD
The new wave of medications can also be used for treating fatty liver disease (MASLD metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease) but are not yet licenced in the UK – they are licenced in the US and Europe.
MASLD is now recognised as a major driver of serious liver damage and is predicted to become the leading cause of liver transplantation within the next few years[i]. Up to 1 in 5 people in the UK are affected by MASLD. Many of these people will have a build-up of fat but there will be no damage to the liver, however,12% of these, which is over a million people, will develop the more severe form of fatty liver disease MASH (metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis)[ii]. 1 in 4 children with obesity are estimated to have MASLD[iii].
There are currently no drugs licenced to treat MASLD in the UK. We have fallen behind the United States and Europe as our market is too small for prioritisation. There are two types of MASLD medications. The first, GLP-1, such as Wegovy (Semaglutide), which received FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approval last month for patients with advanced fatty liver disease[iv]. These support weight reduction which can improve liver disease. The second, Thyroid hormone receptor beta, such as Rezdiffra (Resmetirom), which was given FDA approval last year for NASH, can be used to treat moderate to advanced liver scarring (fibrosis). While the approvals in the UK for the use of drugs to treat fatty liver disease is likely to take some time – we expect to see the new wave of MASLD medications in the next 12-18 months.
We set out the following three key policy recommendations:
There needs to be a cross party political and public consensus to address the primary prevention of obesity.
Without political and public support to address obesity it will be hard for government to bring forward the necessary mandatory and tax policies to meaningfully reduce obesity rates. There will need to be political leadership to move public sentiment around the impact of obesity on public health.Building consensus is essential for impactful policy changes.
Every Integrated Care Board (ICB) to have a full pathway for the early detection of liver disease.
An early MASLD diagnosis offers an opportunity for intervention. Full pathways for the early detection of liver disease will also reduce variations in care and services and address health inequalities.
Ensure the NHS is “patient ready” to deliver the first wave of MASLD medications.
There is an immediate need to make the new wave of MASLD drugs, expected in the next 12-18 months, available on the NHS – especially for those patients who cannot afford to self-fund GLP-1 medications privately.
Ensuring equitable access to new treatments is a public health priority
The Committee was particularly keen to understand what type of policy levers would be most effective. We supported the need for harder policy levers, such as tax and mandatory policies, to address the obesity epidemic. Highlighting the success of the Soft Drinks Industry Levy and the failure of previous policies focused on behavioural change – we advocated for evidence-based policies e.g. tax levers, to drive product reformulation to reduce the overall levels of foods high in fat, salt and sugar from the food system.
Pamela Healy, Chief Executive at the British Liver Trust: “Ahead of a new generation of medications to treat MASLD, the NHS needs to be “patient ready” to deliver these medications. We will be putting pressure on the Government and NHSE to ensure that once these medications are licenced, patients with MASLD have access to them on the NHS.
At the same time the big opportunity that will really address the obesity epidemic is to drive measures to reduce the overall levels of foods high in fat, salt and sugar from the food system. This will need to be done by fiscal and mandatory policies – we can no longer rely on policies that only address behavioural change. They have been tried and have failed. n policies that only address behavioural change. They have been tried and have failed. We need to help people better understand food and drink enabling them to make the correct choices for their health.”
Read the full submission here: British Liver Trust HSCC inquiry response 28-08-2025 PUBLISHED