Exaggerated slimming injections: Well-known experts are not independent

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These are considered authorities when it comes to the latest bestseller from the pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk: doctors who have repeatedly voiced their opinions in various Swiss media in recent years.

They run large-scale practices, mostly for patients with obesity, evaluate diet programs and weight-loss injections such as those from Novo Nordisk in scientific articles, and lecture about them at expert conferences. And: You get paid for it – also from the coffers of the global health group in Denmark. This detail is not mentioned.

A current example: Susanne Maurer, head of the Center for Obesity and Metabolic Medicine at Winterthur ZH, has repeatedly warned in newspapers that obesity patients are helpless. St. Other experts, such as Bernd Schultes of the Metabolic Center St. Gallen, also report despair and anger in their patients.

Treatments can cost up to 800 francs per month

Your problem: Novo Nordisk’s older diabetes drugs are out of stock due to the excitement that has erupted worldwide over the weight-reducing effects of current preparations. However, the costs of the manufacturer’s newly developed slimming syringes are not yet covered by health insurance companies. For this reason, many seriously ill patients have to stop taking medication and gain weight again.

The medical profession’s objection may be justified, but it is clearly in the manufacturer’s interest. Novo Nordisk recently requested that the underlying insurance cover the costs of its new preparations such as Ozempic as soon as possible.

The federal government is currently negotiating prices with Novo Nordisk and checking whether its weight-loss injections meet health insurance companies’ cost-coverage criteria. In the USA, the cost of Ozempic treatment is equivalent to 800 francs per month.

So-called “experts” are often not independent

Against this background, it is disturbing that obesity doctors such as Maurer and Schultes pose as independent experts despite their connections to the manufacturer.

A few years ago, Maurer thanked an executive from Novo Nordisk on Linkedin for the partnership. The Danish company has been supporting him financially in his research for years; pays for conferences and funds travel and conference fees. Novo Nordisk allegedly paid them at least 10,000 francs in recent years. And the obesity center run by Maurer received more than 14,000 francs from the group.

Bernd Schultes is on the scientific advisory board of Novo Nordisk and is responsible for the company’s work. He also gets paid from there for lectures on weight loss injections.

Novo Nordisk will operate in St. Petersburg between 2017 and 2022. Gallen and his company 13,600 francs “in exchange for advice, lectures and sponsorship”. Schultes is also vice president of the Swiss Obesity Association SMOB, which has received 9,000 francs so far, according to Novo Nordisk.

Both doctors say the payments were compliant and were contractual fees for services. They also always expressed their interest in scientific publications and conferences; All payments can also be seen in the company’s transparency reports.

This means that the information is also clearly visible to the media. Maurer adds that the money paid to him amounted to one tenth of a percent of the cumulative turnover in the period in which it was transferred.

Source : Blick