Danish pharmaceutical firm Novo Nordisk A/S NVO stated it’s going to formally launch its weight-loss drug Wegovy in China.
China’s Nationwide Well being Fee survey revealed over half of its 1.4 billion inhabitants is obese or overweight.
Wegovy is the world’s first weekly glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist for long-term weight administration.
China’s Nationwide Medical Merchandise Administration (NMPA) authorised Wegovy in late June. It’s meant for people with a physique mass index (BMI) of 30 or increased who even have not less than one weight-related complication.
Additionally Learn: Ozempic/Wegovy Maker Maintains Q3 Gross sales Progress On Booming Demand
Preliminary gross sales of Wegovy in China will start at a public hospital in Shanghai, the place the primary prescriptions are set to be issued this week, the monetary media firm Yicai noted.
The price of a four-injection pack is reported to be round $194 (CNY 1,400) in comparison with round $1,349 per affected person per thirty days within the U.S.
A month’s prescription for Wegovy prices $186 in Denmark, $140 in Germany, and $92 within the U.Ok.
Within the U.S., Novo Nordisk has been criticized for charging excessive costs for Wegovy and Ozempic.
Whereas Novo Nordisk’s CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen has defended the excessive U.S. costs of the corporate’s blockbuster medicine, Ozempic and Wegovy, stating that these drugs are decreasing the financial burden of obesity-related well being points.
As a result of tight provide, entry to the medicine shall be considerably restricted initially, requiring sufferers to schedule outpatient appointments and bear a medicine evaluation.
At present, Wegovy is just not included in China’s nationwide medical insurance coverage program.
Zhou Xiaping, Novo Nordisk’s international senior vice chairman and president for China, famous that the corporate is actively pursuing methods to make the drug extra inexpensive, together with potential partnerships with industrial insurance coverage suppliers.
The Bloomberg report adds that whereas many sufferers within the U.S. and Europe get some assist with drug prices via insurance coverage, most Chinese language shoppers might want to pay for the drug themselves.
Worth Motion: NVO inventory is down 1.67% at $100.04 on the final examine on Monday.
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