New in pharmacies and doctors: the fat removal syringe is coming to Switzerland

They are called Ozempic or Wegovy and promise guaranteed success.

In the US, sales are already through the roof. And the blockbuster, as it is called in the jargon, has made the Danish manufacturer Novo Nordisk the most valuable pharmaceutical company in Europe. Its value is now estimated at $400 billion.

It has long been a mystery when the Wegovy fat loss injection, an anti-obesity drug, will be available in Switzerland. Although the diabetes drug Ozempic can only be used ‘off-label’ for weight loss in Switzerland, the Swissmedic authority approved the ‘Wegovy’ syringe in 2022. However, so far no deliveries have arrived at pharmacies and doctors.

This now changes: From this week, doctors can prescribe the injection to patients. As Novo Nordisk reports, the product “will be available as part of a controlled and contingent rollout due to limited production capacity.” The group recommends its use “only within approval.”

According to Swissmedic, the drug can therefore be given to people with a disease Body mass index from 27 to 30 (seriously overweight) and a concomitant illness or older than 30 years (obesity). And this is only intended to “supplement a low-calorie diet and increased physical activity to regulate weight in adult patients.”

There is a reason for the official reluctance: the hype surrounding slimming injections as a lifestyle medicine has ensured that Novo Nordisk can hardly keep up with production. Of drastic consequences for diabetics, for which the active substance semaglutide, on which Wegovy or Ozempic are based, is important. Due to the strong demand for the treatment of obesity, diabetics are sometimes no longer able to access their medication.

On the one hand, the two remedies differ in dosage. Wegovy contains more than twice as much of the active ingredient. On the other hand, Ozempic is only approved for the treatment of type 2 diabetes, while Wegovy was developed explicitly as an anti-obesity drug.

Upon request, the company would not disclose how many Wegovy syringes Novo Nordisk is distributing to pharmacies this week. “Given the controlled and contingent rollout, we are communicating with medical professionals to ensure patients with the highest medical needs are prioritized and can receive continued care,” a CH Media spokeswoman said.

She emphasizes that we “clearly support the responsible use of prescription medicines, in order to ensure a continuous supply of patients who are dependent on their medicines for medical reasons. We explicitly point this out to doctors.”

Novo Nordisk also emphasizes that it is expanding global production capacity and keeping existing systems running 24 hours a day.

The success of the Danish fat loss injections lies in the fact that they influence the feeling of hunger in the brain. They mimic and ensure the satiety hormone GLP-1 The appetite is curbed. The hormone is produced in the intestines and, if we eat too much, in the central nervous system. In the latter case, the brain not only registers the signal ‘I’m full’, but also the appetite is lost. The effect was also felt economically: in the US, the hype surrounding the appetite suppressant has already caused shares of McDonald’s & Co. collapsed briefly.

According to studies, the average weight loss for Wegovy is as much as fifteen percent of body weight within two years. “It’s really amazing how well the medication works. How some people simply stop thinking about food and feel incredibly good,” explains Ralph Peterli, obesity surgeon and deputy head of visceral surgery at the University Abdominal Center in Basel, to CH Media.

At the same time, critics urge caution. Because the fat removal injections only suppress the appetite as long as the patient actually uses them. This is good for Novo Nordisk’s business as it retains customers. For patients, however, this means that when quitting they cannot avoid healthy diet and exercise to prevent the yo-yo effect.