Novo Nordisk criticised for high cost of blockbuster obesity drug Wegovy

Denmark's Institute for Rational Pharmacotherapy is urging doctors to restrict prescriptions of Wegovy. And in the US, Michigan’s largest health insurer will drop coverage of the drug

Almost 80,000 Danes, out of a population of 6m, are being treated with Wegovy. But an influential Danish medical institute estimates the total cost of preventing a single heart attack to be about €804,000. Stock picture

A Danish drug oversight panel has advised doctors to restrict prescriptions of Novo Nordisk’s blockbuster obesity drug Wegovy, saying the medicine is so expensive it would cost more than €800,000 to prevent a single heart attack, stroke, or other severe cardiac problem.

Wegovy should not be doctors’ first choice, and they should only start a “few” patients on the treatment, the Danish health authority’s Institute for Rational Pharmacotherapy stated in a report on June 6.