<\/p>\n
\nWegovy slimming medication at a pharmacy in Berlin.
\nPhoto: AFP \/ Jens Kalaene\n<\/p>\n
Pharmac is seeking clinical advice on whether weight loss medication should be funded.<\/p>\n
New Zealand has the third-highest adult obesity rate in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD).<\/p>\n
One in three people over the age of 15 are classified as obese and one in eight children aged between 2-14.<\/p>\n
Pharmac received two applications to fund Wegovy or semaglutide – a GLP-1 receptor agonist for weight loss.<\/p>\n
The first was in September, for people with an established cardiovascular disease (such as someone who has had a heart attack or stroke) and a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 27 or higher. The second was in October, for chronic weight management in people with a BMI of 30 or higher, with at least one weight-related comorbidity.<\/p>\n
Pharmac director of advice and assessment David Hughes said guidance was expected to be published later this month.<\/p>\n
“Our expert advisors will assess how effective the medicine is compared with current funded options, and consider its impact on individuals, wh\u0101nau, caregivers and the wider health system,” he said.<\/p>\n
Hughes added that Pharmac also had an application to fund Saxenda or liraglutide for people with very high BMI.<\/p>\n
That application was currently under assessment.<\/p>\n
On Monday, Australia announced that Wegovy would be subsidised, after being listed on the country’s equivalent to Pharmac.<\/p>\n
The ABC reported that Australia’s Health Minister Mark Butler committed to listing the drug on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme for patients with an established cardiovascular disease and a BMI of 35 or higher. No clear timeline for was established.<\/p>\n
However, that would reduce the cost to AU$25 (NZ$29) per script or AU$7.70 (NZ$9) for a concession card holder.<\/p>\n
Wegovy costs $459.99 per month in New Zealand.<\/p>\n
Associate Minister of Health David Seymour could not comment on what Pharmac should or should not fund.<\/p>\n
“However, I am urging them to improve their budget bids for more money, by considering how funding new drugs might save the taxpayer money elsewhere,” he said.<\/p>\n
“That shift could lead to drugs such as this one being funded sooner, but the final decision remains with Pharmac.”<\/p>\n
Weight loss specialist Dr Gerard McQuinlan also believed that funding Wegovy would save the taxpayer money in the long run.<\/p>\n
He told RNZ that obesity was related to more than 200 other diseases.<\/p>\n
“If I just take one of them, like diabetes, the risk for developing Type 2 diabetes if you have obesity is about 12 times, right?<\/p>\n
“If you look at the cost of Type 2 diabetes to the taxpayer – this is from the Ministry of Health – it costs about $2.1 billion per year, so just reducing just one disease, like diabetes, you can save a lot of money.”<\/p>\n
He did not think funding Wegovy would create a shortage, especially once the pill form was available in New Zealand.<\/p>\n
He said obesity was a chronic, relapsing and progressive disease, with a 95 percent chance the weight would return, if the disease was not managed through medication.<\/p>\n
“We don’t want people to lose weight and then stop the medication, and the weight comes back on, because usually, they’ll gain more weight than what they started with,” he said.<\/p>\n
“People put on more weight after dieting, eventually, because it’s not a willpower problem – it’s a hormone problem. It’s to do with hormones that regulate hunger, appetite and particularly the feeling that people have had enough food.<\/p>\n
“That’s the problem with obesity – people don’t feel that they’ve eaten enough. The signal’s lost.<\/p>\n
“The Wegovy, that is the hormone that controls satiety, the feeling that you’ve had enough to eat.”<\/p>\n