This class of drugs mimics an intestinal hormone that stimulates insulin secretion and provides a feeling of fullness. The general director of the France subsidiary of Novo Nordisk, Étienne Tichit, expresses “the pride of having reopened the path to research in the complex and relapsing chronic disease that is obesity”. He “hopes that this arrival will allow many French patients to enter a course of care including a low-calorie diet and increased physical activity which remains essential”.
Several conditions
For its part, the ANSM indicated in a separate press release “to restrict the conditions of prescription and delivery of all aGLP-1 indicated in the treatment of obesity”, by requiring that the prescriptions for initiation of treatment be provided by specialists in endocrinology-diabetology-nutrition. On the other hand, renewals can be carried out by general practitioners.
The agency also asks doctors to comply with the care pathway of the High Authority for Health, that is to say to “prescribe aGLP-1 indicated in the treatment of obesity to patients with a mass index initial body mass (BMI) greater than or equal to 35 kg/m², aged less than 65 years. This medication should only be used after failure of nutritional support and in combination with a low-calorie diet and physical activity.
For the medicine policeman, this involves “securing the use of aGLP-1 indicated in the treatment of obesity, in a context of potential misuse of these products”, in particular “diversion for aesthetic purposes” by people who do not have weight-related health problems.
“Between 9 and 12 euros per day”
Wegovy is, to date, not registered for reimbursement and its price is therefore set freely, as in most of the fifteen countries where it is already marketed. Based on its other anti-obesity drug marketed in France, Saxenda (liraglutide), which is not currently evaluated for reimbursement, the French subsidiary of Novo Nordisk estimated the price of the Wegovy treatment “between 9 and 12 euros per day.
