The weight loss product “Wegovy”, which is causing a lot of attention, should also be available in Germany in just over a month. “In Germany we want to launch it at the end of July,” said the boss of the Danish manufacturer Novo Nordisk, Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, the “Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper”.
Wegovy is the same active ingredient that Ozempic contains: semaglutide inhibits appetite, among other things. A real hype has arisen around the drug, also because celebrities like Elon Musk have touted the drug as a diet revolution.
Novo Nordisk’s share price has increased by more than 40 percent within a year, and the company is now valued at around 250 billion euros on the stock exchange. This makes it one of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the world.
Unlike people with diabetes or obesity, the drug can be dangerous for people of normal weight.
“Wegovy” has been approved in the EU since early 2022. The active ingredient semaglutide is intended to support weight loss and control together with diet and exercise. It is intended for people with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more, i.e. obese. And for overweight people (BMI from 27) with at least one weight-related comorbidity. The drug is administered once a week, and patients can inject it themselves.
So far, the pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk has been selling the drug in the USA, Denmark and Norway, said Jørgensen of “FAS”. In the US, the list price for a month’s treatment is $1,300. He advocated that health insurance companies “should cover the costs for the patients with the highest body mass index and for the poorest part of the population”. In Germany, where about one in four adults is considered obese, the drug was not previously available.
In one study, patients who received one dose of semaglutide per week along with lifestyle changes lost an average of about 15 percent in weight after 68 weeks. A comparison group that received a dummy drug only lost a good two percent over the same period, according to the “New England Journal of Medicine”.
According to the current state of knowledge, however, the effects are not permanent when the drug is discontinued. “As far as we know, obesity is a chronic disease, which means that if you stop treatment, you gain weight again,” said Jørgensen of “FAS”. Possibly, however, there could be lasting effects after several years of treatment, but there is still no evidence of this.
