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An Eli Lilly & Co. Zepbound injection pen arranged in the Brooklyn borough of New York on March 28, 2024.

LONDON — U.S. pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly is exploring whether obesity drugs could be used to curb joblessness after signing a major investment deal with the U.K.

The weight-loss treatment firm and creator of Zepbound announced Monday that it would commit £279 million ($364 million) to help tackle Britain's significant health challenges — including obesity.

The "strategic collaboration," agreed with the U.K.'s Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) and the Department for Science, Innovation and Technology (DSIT), came as part of a wider £63 billion package of investments announced at the close of the Labour government's inaugural International Investment Summit on Monday.

The Eli Lilly deal will see the company launch a "real-world" study to understand how tirzepatide — the GLP-1 treatment behind its Zepbound and Mounjaro drugs — impacts weight loss, diabetes prevention, and prevention of obesity-related complications, to better inform the National Health Services' treatment of obesity.

Within that, the five-year trial, conducted in collaboration with Health Innovation Manchester, will also explore how weight-loss drugs impact "participants' employment status and sick days from work," the company said in a press release.

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