Medicines|Finns have discovered the new effective weight-loss drugs that have arrived in pharmacies.
The summary is made by artificial intelligence and checked by a human.
The number of users of obesity drugs increased 15-fold in Finland in five years.
In 2023, 63,500 Finns used obesity drugs, three out of four of whom were women.
The total cost of medicines rose from 1.7 million to 44.3 million euros.
New drugs such as semaglutide and liraglutide have grown in popularity due to their effectiveness.
Anti-obesity drugs the number of users increased 15-fold in Finland in five years, says Kela. In 2019, only about 4,500 Finns used obesity drugs, but in 2023, the number had already risen to 63,500.
At the same time, the total costs of these drugs rose from 1.7 million to 44.3 million euros. The total costs include both the drugs paid by the people themselves and the drugs reimbursed by the health insurance.
There are 1.2 million adults in Finland who are obese according to the body mass index. Medicines were used the most by middle-aged and aging working-age people. About three out of four users of obesity drugs last year were women.
The drastic increase in the number of users of obesity drugs is explained by the fact that new and effective drugs for weight control have entered the market. The most common of these are semaglutide and liraglutide, which are also used to treat type 2 diabetes.
The new ones the popularity of obesity drugs has been so great in Finland and elsewhere that factories have not been able to produce as many drugs as there is demand for.
“The numbers would certainly be even higher if everyone who wanted to could get medicine from pharmacies. Not enough of them have been brought to the ground,” says Kela’s specialist researcher Hey Kari.
The majority of obesity drug costs accrued from the use of semaglutide. Last year, about 47,000 Finns bought semaglutide and about 16,000 liraglutide with their own money.
“These new drugs have been found to be very effective. Semaglutide has been on the market in Finland for some time, and because of that it has grown in popularity,” says Kari.
To Finland since last fall, two new drugs for the treatment of obesity and weight control have become available: Wegovy containing semaglutide and Mounjaro containing tircepatid.
Wegovy and Mounjaro are injectable prescription drugs. Medical treatment for both of them costs more than 400 euros per month.
Neither of the above-mentioned medicines are yet covered by health insurance. Pharmaceutical companies can later apply for reimbursement from the Medicines Price Board, which decides on the matter.
Most of the users of obesity drugs have paid for their drugs themselves. According to Kela, about 3.8 million euros were paid out of the health insurance last year in compensation for obesity drugs, while the total costs were 44.3 million euros.
Obesity drugs affect a person’s appetite. Those who take the medicine don’t feel like eating as much as they used to, so they lose weight.
“It has been established that when you stop taking the medication, the weight often starts to accumulate again. According to current information, they should be used for long periods of time and even for the rest of your life,” says Kari.
Kari says that pharmaceutical companies are now investing a lot in obesity drugs, and there are many drugs in the development pipeline. According to him, it would be good to start a serious discussion in Finland about whether the new obesity drugs will be covered by the Kela reimbursement.
“Society should now think carefully about how these and for which group of people they would perhaps be replaced someday. Personally, I would think that when we are living in such a time of scarcity, that we might not be able to afford to pay these to everyone.”
The consideration is complicated by the fact that treating obesity may prevent the onset of other common diseases. These include, for example, type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular diseases.
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