{"id":544830,"date":"2026-03-16T21:28:10","date_gmt":"2026-03-16T21:28:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/544830\/"},"modified":"2026-03-16T21:28:10","modified_gmt":"2026-03-16T21:28:10","slug":"doctors-push-back-on-call-to-subsidise-glp-1-drugs-for-more-australians","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/544830\/","title":{"rendered":"Doctors push back on call to subsidise GLP-1 drugs for more Australians"},"content":{"rendered":"

Doctors are pushing back at a Danish company calling for its blockbuster weight-loss drug to be given to obese children.<\/p>\n

Novo Nordisk chief executive Mike Doustdar is asking the federal government to expand the taxpayer subsidy of the company’s big-name drug Ozempic, but GPs say there are better options.<\/p>\n

Doustdar said Australia has what it takes to tackle obesity, “not just treat it, but actually prevent it at scale”.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/Novo Nordisk chief executive Mike Doustdar is asking the federal government to expand the taxpayer subsidy of the company’s big-name drug Ozempic but GPs say there are better options. (9News)<\/p>\n

“Thinner people have less issues with health, and otherwise,” he told the National Press Club yesterday.<\/p>\n

“Most people understand, so if you’re able to help manage weight, then you actually save money elsewhere.”<\/p>\n

But of course, his company’s product isn’t free. Ozempic and other so-called GLP-1 drugs can cost more than $400 a month, and once you’re on them, you’re typically advised to stay on them.<\/p>\n

“They are expensive and there’s a lot of other treatments available that might be more appropriate and a better first line,” Royal Australian College of General Practitioners president Dr Michael Wright said.<\/p>\n

Currently, only people with Type 2 diabetes get subsidised access to the drugs through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.<\/p>\n

Novo Nordisk claims millions more would benefit, including adolescents whose increasing rates of obesity in Western countries is affecting life expectancy.<\/p>\n

\"\"\/Novo Nordisk chief executive Mike Doustdar is asking the federal government to expand the taxpayer subsidy of the company’s big-name drug Ozempic but GPs say there are better options. (9News)<\/p>\n

“In general, I think it’s a ticking bomb that our children and adolescents are right now becoming more and more obese across the world, and we need to find solutions,” Doustdar said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“And the first and foremost solutions are some of the things I spoke to in my speech, healthier environments, healthier schools, taking care of exercise and food intake.<\/p>\n

“But we are also, of course, making sure that our products are being tested and tried on adolescents and making sure that they’re safe.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“So if support and help is needed on that front, it is also available so we don’t discriminate the age.”<\/p>\n

Wright said “we certainly need more evidence” before going down that path, especially when the company’s own advertising says Ozempic is not for children.<\/p>\n

Subsidising the category of drugs on a massive scale would likely cripple the federal health budget.<\/p>\n

NEVER MISS A STORY: Get your breaking news and exclusive stories first by following us across all platforms.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Doctors are pushing back at a Danish company calling for its blockbuster weight-loss drug to be given to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":544831,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[64,63,137,490],"class_list":["post-544830","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-health","tag-medication"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544830","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=544830"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/544830\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/544831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=544830"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=544830"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=544830"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}