AUNING/COPENHAGEN Fertilization treatments, two pregnancies and the busy everyday life of a family with children. For these reasons, for a resident of Jutland’s Auning Maja for Binder37, had gained far more weight than his height should have.
– After the first pregnancy, the extra pounds came off quickly, but after the birth of the second child, it was more difficult. At first I lost twenty kilos quite easily with fasting and other diets, but then the weight dropped to 83 kilos.
Binder discussed with her doctor whether her body mass index (BMI) would qualify her for a prescription for the new and much talked about drug Wegovy. With a BMI over 30, Binder got a prescription.
Now the scale shows 63 kilos and Binder has become one of the millions of dieters who swear by Wegovy.
Europeans grow taller and wider
According to the Danish Institute of Public Health, the average Dane has grown in both height and width over the past 30 years. Women and men weigh almost ten kilograms more on average than in the late 1980s.
More and more Danes have a body mass index of over 25, which the authorities classify as overweight. This is also the case in Finland.
Eurostat according to 2019 statistics, 50 percent of the adult population in Denmark and 59 percent in Finland are overweight. In both countries, men are clearly more overweight than women.
Unit manager of the Danish Board of Health Niels Sandø says that the countries’ development has followed the same pace as many other western countries.
– Overweight is still most common among those in a weaker socio-economic position, but it has become more common in all social and age groups.
The pharmaceutical company’s wallet is growing at the same rate as the users’ pounds are dropping
The Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk has been the world’s leading insulin manufacturer and funder of diabetes research. Since then, research and solutions related to overweight have also been included.
The jackpot for many people struggling with their weight – and thus also for Novo Nordisk – clicked at the end of 2022. That’s when Wegovy, in the company’s words, “intended for severe obesity” was launched on the market.
The drug is the same substance as Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic diabetes drug, which was previously found to reduce appetite and increase the feeling of satiety. Both are taken as injections like an insulin spike, but the drug active in Wegovy is greater than Ozempic.
The new slimming drug has at least received the approval of the US health authorities and the European Medicines Agency, but at the end of 2023 it will only be sold in the United States and Denmark, but only in Britain, Germany and Norway.
The largest market area is the United States, where sales have been accelerated not only by numerous citizens struggling with obesity, but also by social media influencers and other public figures. Among other things Elon Musk, Sharon Osbourne and Oprah Winfrey have said that they have used diet pills.
More than enough demand
Due to the great popularity in Denmark and especially in the United States, Novo Nordisk is even having difficulties producing the medicine for the market.
Ashkan Sairafianpour, a pharmacist at Nørrebro Apotek in Copenhagen, says that the popularity of the slimming drug is reflected in the availability of both Wegovy and Ozempic. Sometimes pharmacies do not have Ozempic for diabetics.
In addition, Sairafianpour considers it problematic that not only severely overweight people are interested in Wegovy.
– Those who only have a couple of extra kilos around their waists are also interested in the medicine.
Although the medicine is in principle intended and allowed only for those who have crossed the obesity limit, the pharmacist implies that, at least for the time being, doctors seem to have issued Wegovy prescriptions generously.
Also different the media have said that they have been able to order slimming medicine without a doctor’s consultation with foreign online prescriptions.
There is no reimbursement for the price of the diet pill
Although a doctor’s prescription is required to receive Wegovy, it does not receive government reimbursement. Instead, members of the paid Sygeforsikringen Danmark health insurance association receive compensation.
Now, however, the association has decided to stop the compensation – simply because the number of its users has grown exponentially.
According to Sygeforsikringen Danmark, Wegovy can cost the user around 200-4000 euros per year, but so far members of the health insurance association have received compensation of 25-50 percent of the price of the drug.
An early retiree living in Fole, South Jutland Marianne Andersen describes the weight loss drug as “fantastic” but is now worried if she can afford it in the future.
– I eat smaller portions and my mind doesn’t make alcohol. I simply feel better, he tells in a remote interview.
According to Andersen, no previous diets have worked for him. With Wegovy, he says he has lost around 20 kilos in just over half a year, but the goal is another twenty.
Niels Sandø, unit manager of the Danish Health Board, points out that income has a proven effect on everything related to weight: Eating and exercising as well as the use of pharmaceuticals.
Sandø tells that according to current estimates, the financial benefits brought by the slimming drug are smaller than the costs of the expensive, and for many lifelong, drug.
“The medicine makes you lose weight but doesn’t change your way of thinking”
There is an active group on Facebook for users of Wegovy in Denmark. In the group, most members share their positive experiences and support each other. Some have had side effects such as depressive symptoms, worsening of the rash or even increased liver values.
Maja Binder, who lives in Auning, says that sometimes, for example, her stomach has reacted to the use of the medicine, but for example drinking water and magnesium supplements have helped.
All in all, he feels that by buying expensive medicine, he is investing in his own mental and physical well-being.
Binder says that he basically eats the same as before but only less, and also has more energy for his beloved hobby of handball.
– However, the drug does not change a person’s way of thinking. I really hope the weight doesn’t creep back on after I’ve reached my goal weight and I’m ready to stop the medicine.
You can discuss the topic until Thursday at 23:00.