Dutch government should not subsidise weight-loss drug Wegovy, adviser says
AMSTERDAM, July 17 (Reuters) -Novo Nordisk's NOVOb.CO hugely popular weight-loss drug Wegovy should not be coveredunder the basic insurance of the Netherlands, the country's healthcare institute said in an advice to the Dutch government.
It was unclear whether the health effects of Wegovy were large enough to weigh up against the costs of the medicine, the healthcare minister's main adviser said.
With around 4 million people in the Netherlands likely to benefit from Wegovy, it said total costs for the government could rise to around 1.3 billion euros ($1.42 billion).
The institute said even though Wegovy is effective for losing weight, more research is needed to determine the actual health effects.
It also flagged concern about the global shortage of the medicine's main ingredient, semaglutide, which is vital for the treatment of diabetes.
"These shortages emphasize the importance of critically weighing which people have the largest benefit from a medicine," the institute said.
($1 = 0.9168 euros)
Reporting by Bart Meijer; Editing by Arun Koyyur
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