Doctors must keep prescriptions for Ozempic in check, Danish regulator says

COPENHAGEN (Reuters): Doctors in Denmark should limit how many packs of Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic diabetes drug patients can pick up at one time, the Danish Patient Safety Authority said on Monday, amid worries that some acquire a larger supply than needed.

Demand for the hugely popular diabetes treatment has spiked as some have started using the drug for weight-loss effects similar to that of Novo’s Wegovy obesity treatment, which is built on the same core ingredient.

The authority encouraged doctors to be mindful that some patients may accumulate more drugs for Ozempic than would be expected for normal use, possibly to resell excess supplies.

“In the cases we have reviewed, Ozempic has been prescribed for the relevant indication in accordance with the recommendations of the Danish Health Authority,” the Patient Safety Authority said.

“However, the prescribing physicians have not always been sufficiently aware that the drug could be of interest to others than the patient,” it added.

The authority said it encouraged doctors to specify the amount of Ozempic that patients could pick up at the pharmacy at any one time on each prescription, and how often they could do so within a given time frame.

The Danish Medicines Agency in May ordered doctors, as of November, to prescribe cheaper drugs to patients suffering from type 2 diabetes before prescribing Ozempic and similar GLP-1 counterparts, in an attempt to cope with soaring demand.