Congresses, expenses, meals: How weight loss syringe manufacturer Ozempic is trapping our doctors.

For Ozempic manufacturer Novo Nordisk, medicines are a gold mine: This September, the Danish company became the most valuable company in Europe. Rival Eli Lilly, which sells the Mounjaro weight-loss injection, is now worth more than Roche and Novartis combined. According to the Helsana pharmaceutical report, the cost of the active ingredient semaglutide in Switzerland has tripled in the last three years: from 15.7 million francs to 51.6 million francs.

Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly are actively helping to fuel this excitement by inviting doctors and hospitals to conferences, paying for travel, overnight or meal expenses, and paying consultant fees. Last year, Novo Nordisk spent 4.1 million francs for this year; this is almost twice as many as the previous year (2.1 million). In the last eight years the total has been 22 million francs. Rival Eli Lilly has paid a total of 30 million francs in the last eight years and a record sum of seven million francs in 2022.

Both are in the top 20 among 65 companies that disclose their payments. SonntagsBlick evaluated and made them available via the “Observer” and “Handelszeitung” on pharma Gelder.ch.

Expert from Zurich University Hospital is at the summit

At the top of the list of Novo Nordisk’s biggest beneficiaries are three chief physicians, all specialists and some of them internationally renowned diabetologists. Roger Lehmann, deputy director of the Clinic for Endocrinology and Diabetology at the University Hospital Zurich, received the most money since 2015, with a total of 63,000 francs. For an assistant chief physician at the cantonal hospital in Zug, the figure was 46,000 francs, while the chief physician at the cantonal hospital in Frauenfeld TG earned 44,500 francs in eight years.

But that’s not all: the Danish weight loss giant also actively supports members of the Swiss Society of Endocrinology and Diabetology (SGED). 13 of the 19 board members have received at least four-figure sums from Novo Nordisk in recent years. SGED has a high level of credibility as an expert community and has an opinion-forming role in the industry.

Research shows that even small amounts given to doctors for lunch, for example, can change prescribing behavior. Doctors who get paid are more likely to prescribe more expensive original drugs and more likely to underestimate side effects.

Professor and former pharmaceutical consultant

The Observer recently revealed how far pharmaceutical giants are willing to go: A British professor praised the Wegovy drug in front of an audience of millions on BBC radio, but failed to mention that he was also president of the European Association for the Study of Obesity. Wegovy received more than £3.6 million from its manufacturer over three years. The professor was previously a consultant to Novo Nordisk.

What is noteworthy about Lehmann is that he has been paid exclusively from Novo Nordisk since his appointment as deputy director. A significant part of this is for consultations and lectures at conferences, for example. Lehmann writes that an international trip can easily cost 15,000 to 20,000 francs. He visits twice a year, which explains his contributions. “Completely free” when it comes to the content of the lessons. He is paid between 100 and 150 francs per hour, which is “absolutely appropriate for my education and position”. He is medically independent as he lectures to almost all pharmaceutical companies operating in the diabetes industry. The lessons will ultimately benefit the university hospital because they will have more allocation.

Novo Nordisk writes that the “monetary benefits” provided to specialists depend on their field of activity. Today, we are investing more than ever before in therapeutic areas such as obesity.

Collaborators: Otto Hostettler, Simon Huwiler, Michael Heim and Seraina Gross