The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence issued final guidance telling NHS doctors to offer Wegovy to anyone with BMI ≥30 plus established cardiovascular disease. Novo Nordisk's 2.4 mg semaglutide injection becomes the first weight-loss medicine routinely funded for heart protection. The move follows NICE's review of Novo's SELECT trial, which showed the drug cut major adverse cardiac events by 20 percent in overweight patients with prior heart attacks or strokes.
NHS England will pay £75.05 per four-dose pen, down from the £175 private pharmacies charge. Total annual cost per patient reaches £1,951, according to NICE's economic model, which assumes 17.3 pens per year after the five-dose ramp-up period.
The watchdog calculated the drug produces 0.06 quality-adjusted life years per patient while avoiding £1,084 in future cardiac admissions. NICE set the cost-effectiveness threshold at £30,000 per QALY, and Wegovy cleared at £16,500.
Novo cut Ozempic and Wegovy prices in India. The company had already cut Ozempic prices twice since January, bringing the 1 mg pen to ₹1,850 from ₹3,903.
Novo's India head Vishal Chaturvedi told Reuters the company "will not cede ground to copycats" despite losing patent protection in 2025.
NICE mandates doctors document at least one prior myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke, or peripheral artery disease. Patients must also have tried standard lipid-lowering therapy and show willingness to follow a reduced-calorie diet plus exercise plan.
The guidance warns against prescribing during pregnancy or to patients with medullary thyroid carcinoma history. Doctors must stop treatment if patients fail to lose five percent of baseline weight after six months.
Novo told wholesalers additional shipments arrive weekly through June, prioritizing patients with the highest cardiac risk scores. A Boots spokesperson said pharmacists will verify BMI and cardiac history before dispensing, with first appointments available April 15.
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence issued final guidance telling NHS doctors to offer Wegovy to anyone with BMI ≥30 plus established cardiovascular disease. The decision covers 1.5 million Britons and takes effect immediately, according to the guidance document released Tuesday.
Novo Nordisk's 2.4 mg semaglutide injection becomes the first weight-loss medicine routinely funded for heart protection. The move follows NICE's review of Novo's SELECT trial, which showed the drug cut major adverse cardiac events by 20 percent in overweight patients with prior heart attacks or strokes.
NHS England will pay £75.05 per four-dose pen, down from the £175 private pharmacies charge. Total annual cost per patient reaches £1,951, according to NICE's economic model, which assumes 17.3 pens per year after the five-dose ramp-up period.
The watchdog calculated the drug produces 0.06 quality-adjusted life years per patient while avoiding £1,084 in future cardiac admissions. NICE set the cost-effectiveness threshold at £30,000 per QALY, and Wegovy cleared at £16,500.
Hours after the NICE announcement, Novo slashed Wegovy's Indian list price by 43 percent to ₹1,499 per pen, matching local generic versions from Sun Pharma and Cipla. The company had already cut Ozempic prices twice since January, bringing the 1 mg pen to ₹1,850 from ₹3,903.
Analysts at Bernstein estimate the Indian weight-loss market at $300 million and growing 40 percent annually. Novo's India head Vishal Chaturvedi told Reuters the company "will not cede ground to copycats" despite losing patent protection in 2025.
NICE mandates doctors document at least one prior myocardial infarction, ischemic stroke, or peripheral artery disease. Patients must also have tried standard lipid-lowering therapy and show willingness to follow a reduced-calorie diet plus exercise plan.
The guidance warns against prescribing during pregnancy or to patients with medullary thyroid carcinoma history. Doctors must stop treatment if patients fail to lose five percent of baseline weight after six months.
NHS England has secured 50,000 pens for the first quarter, enough for 2,900 patients to complete the full course. Novo told wholesalers additional shipments arrive weekly through June, prioritizing patients with the highest cardiac risk scores.
Boots and LloydsPharmacy both opened online booking systems Tuesday morning, reporting 12,000 registrations within three hours. A Boots spokesperson said pharmacists will verify BMI and cardiac history before dispensing, with first appointments available April 15.
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