France Declines Coverage for Wegovy: Implications for Other European Nations

Wegovy

France has been one of the many European countries that has refused to put the weight loss drug Wegovy under the country’s national health insurance. The Danish Pharmaceutical Company, Novo Nordisk recently launched Wegovy in the French market for obese patients. However, after its launch, France took a conservative approach by recommending the drug saying it is a secondary prescription treatment when first line dietary and exercise changes do not help.

Wegovy will cost patients between €270 and €330 a month, which France’s national health insurance does not pay for. Patients will pay, and prescriptions will be provided by obesity specialists only to avoid misuse by those who are not overweight for merely aesthetic reasons.

In addition, appetite suppressants like Wegovy and other GLP-1 receptor agonists are likely to increase further to $131 billion (€117.4 billion) by 2028. According to Dr. Jens-Christian Holm of the University of Copenhagen, “These drugs are not a cure for obesity. Once treatment stops, the effect diminishes, and there are numerous side effects and costs involved.”

European countries have taken a cautious route too. The health insurance in Germany cannot spend money on drugs to treat lifestyle-related conditions. This means Wegovy is used only in a private setting in Germany. In Denmark, the drug cannot be used as a standard of treatment because the cost-effectiveness of its use is very questionable. In the UK, the National Health Service has limited the use of the drug to a period not exceeding two years, because of expensive long-term use.

The Dutch health authorities weigh in the implications their system would face regarding budgeting if they were to put Wegovy under their basic health insurance, citing the need for more general society-wide discussions over the treatment of obesity.

Novo Nordisk has agreed to discuss the price so that the product would be more affordable to those who have urgent medical conditions. In any case, recent nods from the European Medicines Agency in accepting the use of Wegovy in the prevention of cardiovascular complications may play a role on which the health agency deems fit for coverage, much beyond using it only as a procedure for weight loss.

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