The weight-loss injection Wegovy is one of the most successful new pharmaceuticals, but many people who want it can鈥檛 actually access it.
In most countries in Europe, Wegovy hasn鈥檛 yet been launched, despite expected high demand. In the US, one of the few places where it is available, manufacturer Novo Nordisk has been trying to limit the number of people who start taking the medicine.
This isn鈥檛 the usual behaviour of a pharmaceutical company with a recently approved medicine expected to generate blockbuster sales. So why is Wegovy so hard to get hold of?
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The answer may lie in the fact that semaglutide, the active ingredient in Wegovy, is so resoundingly effective for weight loss. 快猫短视频s have been trying for decades to develop a weight-loss drug that is safe to take long term. Semaglutide, which works by mimicking a hormone called GLP-1 that is released after eating, was initially approved as a treatment for type 2 diabetes, branded as Ozempic.
But semaglutide also causes people to lose significant weight 鈥� enough for many users to shift from obese to a 鈥渉ealthy鈥� body mass index. As word of these effects spread, people without diabetes began using Ozempic 鈥渙ff label鈥� for weight loss, jeopardising supplies for people with diabetes who need it for blood sugar control.
Wegovy was approved explicitly for weight loss by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2021. Like Ozempic, to minimise side effects, people start off on a low dose and this is gradually increased until the maintenance dose is reached. The two products contain the same drug but the Wegovy maintenance dose is slightly higher.
Launching Wegovy in the US first makes economic sense, as the US has one of the world鈥檚 heaviest populations. It is also the world鈥檚 biggest market for pharmaceuticals due to its large population size and the fact that drug prices there are generally higher, as there is no centralised system for healthcare providers to negotiate prices directly with manufacturers.
As an indication of just how distorted US drug prices are, the US list price for Ozempic is $936 a month, compared with around $100 in most other countries, according to a by health analysts Peterson-KFF. The US list price for Wegovy is $1349 a month, compared with about $300 in the two European countries included in this report. US healthcare providers may negotiate discounts on drug list prices but are still paying several hundred dollars a month more than what is paid in Europe, says , one of the report authors.
Despite the prices, demand for Wegovy and Ozempic in the US has been so strong that Novo Nordisk has struggled to meet it. The firm said in May that in the US it would limit availability of the lower聽starting doses of Wegovy to ensure that those already taking the higher maintenance dose wouldn鈥檛 have their supplies interrupted.
Novo Nordisk鈥檚 income from US sales of semaglutide has been so high that it has seen its market valuation soar by 38 per cent in the year to date, to $413 billion 鈥� more than the 2022 gross domestic product of Denmark, where the company is based. The influx of billions of dollars a year from US sales has strengthened the Danish kroner and forced Denmark鈥檚 central bank to lower interest rates.
Cynics might argue the huge sums Novo Nordisk is making in the US explains why it has lagged on launching Wegovy elsewhere. In England, for instance, one of the few countries to agree to public funding of Wegovy treatment through a national health system, the product was initially set to be available by spring 2023, but this was delayed, and limited stock only arrived at the start of September.
A spokesperson for Novo Nordisk said: 鈥淲e are actively producing and shipping all dose strengths. However, demand continues to outpace our increasing production. As a result, we anticipate ongoing supply disruption.鈥�
They also said that Wegovy for the US market is being manufactured in a different injection device to other markets and therefore isn鈥檛 impacting supply elsewhere. They added that while they couldn鈥檛 give information about launch dates, the firm is working to make Wegovy available in the UK as soon as possible.
But it is possible that even after an official launch, people still may find it hard to fill their doctor鈥檚 prescriptions. It seems that the world鈥檚 appetite for weight-loss drugs is insatiable.
