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Obesity Market Potential Is Huge, But Access To Drugs An Increasing Challenge

Novo’s SELECT Readout For Wegovy May Answer Payer Questions

 
• By Mandy Jackson

Despite double-digit weight loss across several drugs presented at ADA, experts note access to obesity therapies will be constrained without outcomes data to justify their widespread use and cost.

healthy nutritional food eating lifestyle to prevent heart disease and diabetes
Showing that obesity drugs can improve diabetes and heart health may be key to reimbursement • Source: Shutterstock

While the GLP-1 agonists have been hailed for their double-digit percentage weight reductions in clinical trials presented at the recent American Diabetes Association (ADA) annual meeting, data on how significant weight loss can improve or prevent cardiometabolic comorbidities may be what is needed to improve payer coverage. Given the numbers of people eligible for treatment and the costs of new medicines, there are growing concerns that many who could greatly benefit from obesity drugs will not be able to access them.

Accessibility already is a problem for Novo Nordisk A/S’s Wegovy (semaglutide), which the company has struggled to manufacture at a pace that keeps up with demand. The US Food and Drug Administration approved Wegovy – a higher-dose version of the injectable GLP-1 agonist Ozempic (semaglutide) for diabetes – for obesity in 2021 and the drug launched at a wholesale acquisition cost (WAC) of $1,297 per year. (Also see "Novo Nordisk Hopes To Gradually Build US Access To Obesity Therapy" - Scrip, 7 June, 2021

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