Novo Nordisk weight-loss drug Wegovy launched in Germany, first big EU
market
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[July 31, 2023]
By Ludwig Burger and Maggie Fick
FRANKFURT (Reuters) - Novo Nordisk has launched blockbuster weight-loss
drug Wegovy in Germany, its first big European market, hoping Germans
will pay hundreds of euros out of pocket for a drug that public health
insurance plans are so far barred from covering.
The drug, shown to help patients reduce body weight by around 15% when
used along with exercise and lifestyle changes, is already available in
the United States, but in Europe is so far on sale only in small markets
Norway and Denmark.
"The first patients have redeemed prescriptions in Germany," a
spokesperson for Novo confirmed on Saturday to Reuters, in line with
previously announced plans to launch the drug there at the end of July.
The Danish drugmaker's share price has more than doubled in the two
years since the drug debuted, turning Novo into Europe's
second-most-valuable listed company after LVMH.
Doctors and patients in Germany have told Reuters they anticipate high
demand for the weekly injections, with many patients prepared to take on
the cost, starting at 170 euros ($190) a month and rising to more than
300 euros as treatment requires the dosage to increase.
Public health insurance plans, which cover about 90% of Germans, will
not foot the bill, under a decades old law that bars them from covering
weight-loss drugs.
For the 10% of Germans with private health insurance, coverage will
vary. Among major providers, Allianz says it will pay if a physician
diagnoses a medical need, while Debeka said its plans exclude
weight-loss treatments.
Patient advocates and physicians have welcomed the arrival of Wegovy in
Germany, where 18.5% of adults are obese, above the European Union
average of 16%.
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The logo of Danish multinational
pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk is pictured on the facade of a
production plant in Chartres, north-central France, April 21, 2016.
REUTERS/Guillaume Souvant/File Photo
The Robert Koch Institute, Germany's
state public health agency, says diseases linked to excess body
weight pose a considerable burden on health and social security
systems.
Novo is ramping up production to meet soaring demand in the United
States, where the drug sells for as much as $1,350 a month. It says
it will closely monitor prescriptions in Germany to ensure access
for people with obesity, but it cannot not rule out supply delays.
In Germany, Wegovy will be administered with the same injection pen
used in Norway and Denmark, different from the one used in the
United States, to avoid hitting supplies there.
Wegovy's introduction in Germany will stir debate in a nation where
the health care system has often treated obesity as a lifestyle
choice rather than a chronic disease.
Doctors say many Germans seeking to lose weight have already used
Ozempic, a diabetes drug also made by Novo that is a lower dose
version of the same ingredient as Wegovy.
Physicians have worried that supplies would be strained by non-obese
people seeking "vanity" prescriptions - a concern reflected in a
Novo statement in mid-July saying physicians should "prescribe
responsibly".
($1 = 0.8984 euros)
(Reporting by Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt and Maggie Fick in London)
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