It was planned for the end of the year. Finally, on Tuesday October 8, the French subsidiary of the Danish pharmaceutical group Novo Nordisk announced the commercial launch of its anti-obesity drug, Wegovy, an analogue of GLP1, a hormone already used for diabetes. Since it increases insulin secretion and reduces that of glucagon, it helps regulate hunger by sending satiety messages to the brain and therefore promises, with a weekly injection, a weight loss of around 15%.
“Fifteen may not seem like much. But when we know that with 10% we seriously improve metabolic syndrome, this will avoid many complications: obesity increases the risk of having cancer, heart disease, liver disease or hypertension.comments Pierre Nys, diabetologist, endocrinologist nutritionist, former attaché at the Paris Hospitals.
High price
After nutritional rehabilitation and bariatric surgery, drug treatments constitute a third way in the management of obesity, and were therefore particularly anticipated. “It brings hopecomments Aurélie Quillet, patient expert member of the League Against Obesity. Already because we finally have a molecule that helps patients. And then because it legitimizes the status of obesity as a disease. Until then, we still told the people concerned a lot to exercise and eat less…”
“You can’t imagine the number of calls we receive on our helplines asking us when Wegovy will be available, how much it will cost, who will it be prescribed to, will it be supported, etc. »abounds La Ligue.
The amount, in fact, is contradictory. Wegovy is supervised by the Medicines Agency (ANSM) – it must only be prescribed by specialists in endicronology-diabetology-nutrition, only to patients under 65 years of age with a body mass index (BMI) greater than or equal to 35 kg/m² and only after failure of nutritional support. But it is not refunded at the moment. Its price is therefore set freely, as in most of the fifteen countries where it is already marketed. In this case, in France, it will vary between €9 and €12 per day.
“This can go up to €370 per month, which constitutes a colossal budget, regrets the League against Obesity. Not everyone can afford it. We know people who have savings and are totally willing to take on this treatment. But for those who earn a minimum wage, who have children, it’s complicated…”
The race for drugs accelerates
Obviously aware of the obstacle that the price can constitute, the laboratory has extended the free early access currently benefiting 7,000 patients until the end of January 2025. “If there are no solutions found before this date, I will have to stop”alarms Natacha, 33 years old.
The treatment is not a success for everyone (as with Ozempic, there are around 20% failures), but the young woman, under treatment since August 2022, has lost more than 30 kg. She was able to return to sport and is no longer out of breath when walking, “a miracle”she summarizes. “I’m quite anxious because we played guinea pigs for two years and now I’m afraid that she will be taken away from us like that. I know that if I stop, I lose all the benefits, at the risk of gaining back even more weight than I lost”.
“The Wegovy is potentially taken for life, which is even more expensive if you consider that you have to pay more than €3,000 for an entire year. In addition, the difficulty is that we do not yet know how to continue the treatment once the target weight has been reached. One injection per week, every two weeks, per month? We will have to tame these new treatments”explains Arnaud Monier, head of the diabetology, endocrinology and nutrition department at the Chartres CH.
This announcement reveals how the race for obesity drugs is accelerating. “We are currently testing a treatment based on the molecule tirzepatide, a unimolecular double agonist, which is even more effective than Wegovy”notes for example Doctor Arnaud Monier. The price should be known by the end of the year.
