Excitement builds as Novo Nordisk weight loss drug Wegovy returns to pharmacies

21 February 2023

Danish diabetes care giant Novo Nordisk’s (NOV: N) has been impacted by supply chain issues, for the production of semaglutide, the active ingredient of its obesity drug Wegovy, as well as diabetes drugs Ozempic and Rybelsus.

However, the company recently assured that US supplies were back on track, and this month it was revealed that Wegovy would be available on high-street pharmacies in the UK this spring. Wegovy is of great interest as it is the first therapy to be approved in the obesity space that is administered on a weekly basis and shows superior efficacy to other currently marketed therapies in this space, says data and analytics company GlobalData.

Sara Reci, pharma analyst at GlobalData, comments: “Currently, the only glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA) therapy approved for obesity in the UK is Saxenda (liraglutide), which patients are expected to self-administer via subcutaneous injection on a daily basis. Conversely, Wegovy is a therapy that offers efficacy and treatment duration advantages within the obesity market.

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