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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<\/p>\n
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>\n
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>\n
“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>\n
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>\n
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>\n
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>\n
For the 10% of Germans with private health insurance, coverage will vary. Among major providers, Allianz says it will pay if a physician diagnoses a medical need, while Debeka said its plans exclude weight-loss treatments.<\/p>\n
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>\n
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>\n
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>\n
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>\n
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>\n
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>\n
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>\n
($1 = 0.8984 euros)<\/p>\n
Reporting by Ludwig Burger in Frankfurt and Maggie Fick in London<\/p>\n
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