Alternative weight loss drug to be sold in PH soon

A woman holds up a dosage of Wegovy, a drug used for weight loss, at her home in Front Royal, Va., on March 1, 2024. —AP Photo

MANILA, Philippines — Denmark-based multinational pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk will make Wegovy, its approved weight-loss treatment for individuals with obesity, available in the Philippines “anytime between the third and fourth quarter” of the year.

This will address the “artificial” shortage of Ozempic, another Novo Nordisk drug, which is prescribed for the treatment of type 2 diabetes but has been used off-label as a weight loss medication.

Wegovy was approved by the Philippine Food and Drug Administration as early as February last year. “The reason for the waiting time is that we need a go-signal from our headquarters that there are [enough] stocks of Wegovy allotted for the Philippines … for the estimated number of patients that will need it,” Dr. Cyrus Pasamba, medical manager of Novo Nordisk Philippines, told the Inquirer on Tuesday. —Dexter Cabalza