Wegovy, an anti-obesity drug from the pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk, arrived on the French market this Tuesday, October 8. Authorized in the European Union since January 2022, the drug can thus be delivered by prescription in pharmacies in France to patients suffering from severe obesity. Only problem: it is not currently reimbursed by Health Insurance, and people wishing to use it will have to pay for it out of their own pocket, with an estimated price of between 274 and 365 euros per month.
The active ingredient in Wegovy, semaglutide, is an analogue of glucagon-like peptide-1 (or GLP-1), a hormone naturally secreted by the body that reduces appetite and blood sugar levels. Initially developed as an antidiabetic drug (marketed, for example, by Novo Nordisk under the name Ozempic), semaglutide shows promising clinical results in the treatment of severe obesity. However, this new use of the drug is not without problems: popularized by many personalities on social networks for its weight loss properties, Ozempic is experiencing significant supply problems. Last September, Novo Nordisk announced that intermittent shortages of the antidiabetic drug could be expected at least until the last quarter of 2024.
As our infographic shows, Wegovy’s sales have increased significantly in recent years: if they only represented 189 million euros in the first quarter of 2022, they exceeded one and a half billion euros in the second quarter of 2024. With its implementation the market in France, which currently has more than 8 million people suffering from obesity, sales of the drug could continue to increase significantly in the coming months.
