Taxpayers would fund popular weight-loss drugs for people with severe obesity under a proposal from American pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly to have Mounjaro listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

The move, which is being seen as a test case for Canberra’s willingness to subsidise the new-class of blockbuster medicines used by millions of people to lose weight, follows a decision to make Mounjaro available on Britain’s public healthcare system to some patients.