#receive #Ozempic #diabetes
Updated 2024-04-10 06.50 | Published 2024-04-09 14.08
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full screen The diabetes and slimming medicine Ozempic from the Danish company Novo Nordisk has caused the company’s market value to rise above Denmark’s entire GDP. Archive image. Photo: David J. Phillip AP/ TT
The National Board of Health and Welfare has mapped medicines that are used to treat both diabetes and obesity. Despite the fact that the Swedish Medicines Agency appealed to doctors to only prescribe the medicine to diabetics, one in six withdrawals is made from people without a diabetes diagnosis.
The withdrawals made by people without diabetes are also increasing, a survey by the National Board of Health and Welfare shows. In it, they looked at medicines that contain semaglutide, a group that includes Ozempic, which Ekot in Sveriges Radio was the first to report on. The demand for Ozempic increased significantly when it became known that celebrities in the US were using it.
In December 2023 urged The Swedish Medicines Agency Sweden’s doctors not to prescribe diabetes medication for weight loss because it led to a shortage of drugs for chronically ill patients.
When it comes to prescribing the medicine without subsidy, i.e. to patients who do not suffer from diabetes, the regions Skåne and Gävleborg stand out. There, clinics prescribe medicines with semaglutide to a higher degree than what is collected by patients. In other words, patients who do not live in Skåne or Gävleborg have the medicine prescribed there but pick it up in their home region.
The survey shows that a few clinics in Skåne account for a whopping 60 percent of all prescriptions without subsidy.
Corrected: A previous version incorrectly stated that Ozempic is approved for weight loss.
