– Sought-after fat-removal injection comes to Switzerland
A year and a half after approval by the Swiss Medicines Agency, Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy weight loss syringe is available in this country – but only in limited quantities.
Published: November 7, 2023, 7:29 p.m
Twelve percent of all Swiss are obese: Overweight men at the lake crossing from Zurich last year.
Photo: Urs Jaudas
People who want to lose weight have been waiting for this for a long time. A year and a half after the medicines authority Swissmedic approved the weight loss injection Wegovy for the treatment of obesity, the manufacturer Novo Nordisk is delivering the first doses in Switzerland this week.
The Danish company confirms to this editorial team that Wegovy “will be available as part of a controlled and contingent rollout for the treatment of obesity”.
The Wegovy weight loss injection promises great weight loss. The drug is now also available in Switzerland.
Photo: AP
In concrete terms, this means that the offer in Switzerland will be limited for the time being. “Patients should only use Wegovy within the approval and under medical supervision,” writes the company, which has become the most valuable in Europe thanks to its weight loss syringes.
Novo Nordisk appeals to the medical profession to primarily treat “patients with the highest medical needs”. And: In the event of any supply bottlenecks, the medicine should be prescribed “responsibly and only after a medical clarification”.
The fact that Wegovy is only now coming to Switzerland has to do with the manufacturer’s production bottlenecks. Since the drug was approved in the USA for the treatment of obesity two years ago, there has been a huge amount of hype surrounding Wegovy and other related weight loss injections.
This is fueled by testimonials on social media from celebrities such as Elon Musk and former NBA star Charles Barkley. In registration studies, participants lost an average of 12.5 percent of their body weight.
The active ingredient in Wegovy suppresses the appetite
Wegovy contains the active ingredient semaglutide. It belongs to the class of GLP-1 receptor agonists and mimics a hormone that suppresses appetite and stimulates the release of insulin. Semaglutide was originally developed as a treatment for type 2 diabetes and is available in Switzerland under the brand name Ozempic. An Ozempic syringe has a lower dosage than a Wegovy syringe.
Supposed to curb the appetite: weight loss injections from Wegovy.
Photo: Michael Siluk (UCG, Universal Images via Getty)
Ozempic is also experiencing delivery problems. The demand for the diabetes drug is huge, said Philipp Gerber, senior physician at the Clinic for Endocrinology, Diabetology and Clinical Nutrition at the University Hospital of Zurich, to this editorial team at the beginning of September. Patients would be prescribed Ozempic on a self-pay basis, as a weight-loss injection and not as intended to treat diabetes. This leads to an undersupply of those diabetes patients who urgently need these medications. “This should definitely be avoided,” said Gerber.
The Wegovy syringe is not intended for everyone and must be prescribed by a doctor. According to Swissmedic, the injection may only be used “in addition to a low-calorie diet and increased physical activity”. This applies to adults with a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or higher (obesity) or to people with a BMI of 27 to 30 (overweight) and with at least one weight-related comorbidity.
The price for a monthly dose has not yet been determined
Treatment with Wegovy can be expensive. The injection must be given once a week. In Germany, a monthly dose costs around 300 francs. In Switzerland, a monthly dose of the diabetes injection Ozempic costs 130 francs. It is not yet clear what price Novo Nordisk will charge for Wegovy.
It is also unclear whether the costs of treatment with Wegovy will be covered by health insurance companies. Saxenda, Wegovy’s weaker precursor drug with an active ingredient from the same drug class, is covered by basic insurance – but only from a BMI of at least 35 or a BMI of at least 28 if there are additional weight-related comorbidities.
One thing is certain: Hundreds of thousands of people in Switzerland could benefit from the new fat-removal injection. According to last year’s health survey, 31 percent of the adult population is overweight and 12 percent are obese. Men are affected significantly more often.
More about losing weightNik Walter is an editor in the knowledge team of the Tamedia editorial team. The doctor of biology has been writing for Tamedia since 1997, and from 1999 to the end of 2021 he headed the knowledge department. The focus is on life sciences, medicine and science policy. In 2013 he won the Prix Media of the Academy of Natural Sciences.More information@sciencenik
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2023-11-07 21:59:40
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