Novo Nordisk weight-loss drug Wegovy launched in Germany, first big EU market By Reuters

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<span>© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: 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</span><br />
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<p>By Ludwig Burger and Maggie Fick</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>“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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>For the 10% of Germans with private health insurance, coverage will vary. Among major providers, Allianz (ETR:) says it will pay if a physician diagnoses a medical need, while Debeka said its plans exclude weight-loss treatments.</p>
<p>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%. </p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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. </p>
<p>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.</p>
<p>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”.</p>
<p>($1 = 0.8984 euros)</p>
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