Obese people despair: – I am terrified

Since Gro Sjuve Christoffersen, Silje Pedersen, Elin Aaslie and Christell Fløisbonn started on the slimming medicine Saxenda, they have lost a total of 84 kilos.

Now they are terrified that all the work they have put in will be in vain.

In recent days, TV 2 has been contacted by a number of desperate overweight patients.

Because after fighting the weight for years, they finally found a medicine that worked and made everyday life easier.

From 1 February, however, they lose the right to get Saxenda on a blue prescription, and they must therefore bear the cost themselves.

Gro, Silje, Elin and Christell are far from alone. Last year, over 30,000 overweight Norwegians were prescribed Saxenda on a blue prescription, according to figures Today’s Medicine have brought in.

– Terrified

The common thing for the patients TV 2 has been in contact with is that they cannot afford to pay more than NOK 3,000 a month.

Among them is Gro Sjuve Christoffersen.

– I had actually been told by my GP that I might have to take the medicine for the rest of my life, she says.

The shock was therefore great when she realized that the decision, which means that she will get Saxenda covered, will not be possible to extend when it expires in June.

– I am terrified that they will not turn this around. I have no chance to pay.

Christoffersen started at Saxenda in June last year, and has since lost 28 kilos.

Due to the weight loss, other health problems have been significantly reduced, and the future looked bright.

Christoffersen is on unemployment benefit and has a small position in a hotel next door. The hope was to be able to increase the vacancy rate in line with the weight loss.

– Now I am afraid that the pain in the joints will return again. I had been given a whole new lease of life from the medicine, she says.

– How can I afford it?

Like Christoffersen, Silje Pedersen has also benefited greatly from Saxenda. The 37-year-old from Hole has been overweight most of his life.

The active ingredient in Saxenda has led to a feeling of satiety, and thus kept both eating disorders and blood pressure in check, she says.

– For the first time in my life, I have a normal relationship with food.

Pedersen has lost 17 kilograms in one year, but fears that she will fall back into bad habits without the medicine.

– I’m a single mother, and with all the current price increases – how can I afford it? she asks.

– Not cost-effective

In recent years, more and more slimming drugs have appeared on the market. Last in the series was Wegovy, which is referred to by several experts as a revolution.

But the Norwegian Medicines Agency has concluded that the price of this medicine was far too high, in relation to its effect.

This decision had a direct consequence for Saxenda, which is therefore an equivalent medicine.

– As Saxenda has a worse effect than Wegovy, but the same high price, it therefore becomes clear that treatment with Saxenda is not cost-effective either, Helfo states.

– Don’t know what to do

Gro, Silje, Elin and Christell are left with no answer as to what will happen to their slimming process next.

TV 2 has also been in contact with three other patients. All seven say that:

• Everyone has tried other methods of slimming in the past, without success. They say that they feel they have finally found something that works.
• Everyone has received the information via the media and feels that the GPs do not know what to do. No one has been offered other options.
• All are in a difficult financial situation and have greatly benefited from the reimbursement scheme to be able to carry out the slimming treatment.

Will be a challenge

The desperate patients receive support from several professionals.

– I thought that this would be a challenge for many patients, because they are losing an important medicine.

So says Bård Eirik Kulseng, senior physician and head of the Center for Obesity Research and Innovation at St. Olav’s Hospital in Trondheim.

He emphasizes that several of his Saxenda patients have lost 15 to 20 percent of their weight, and that you see fewer complications such as diabetes, heart fibrillation and incontinence.

– The consequence is that the vast majority of people will gain weight again. And then they will get back the complications linked to obesity, says Kulseng.

– Strange

Morten Munkvik is a GP and works at Stavanger Medisinske Senter.

He is stunned by the reversal.

– It is strange to let someone sniff a good medicine, also to withdraw it, says Munkvik to TV 2.

The GP therefore hopes that the authorities will turn around and make the slimming drugs available on blue prescription.

– I hope that we will get an arrangement for this before too long, so that patients do not have to pay dearly or possibly stop taking it.

However, Munkvik believes that it was necessary for the authorities to take a step back, as the demand for slimming medicine has increased sharply in Norway in recent years.

– This has taken off a bit, and it became a “hype” of another world.

– Unlucky

The pharmaceutical manufacturer Novo Nordisk is behind both Wegovy and Saxenda.

Communications manager Tor Egil Frostelid tells TV 2 that the situation we have now found ourselves in is unfortunate.

– It is particularly unfortunate for those patients who are already on treatment and can document a good effect. Many of the patients are in a vulnerable situation with weight-related additional illnesses, says Frostelid.

Novo Nordisk believes that the Norwegian Medicines Agency underestimates the effect of weight loss resulting from treatment with Saxenda and Wegovy.

– Will be demanding

They received a report about the refusal last week and will now go through it.

– Based on the assumptions made by the Norwegian Medicines Agency, we see that it will be difficult to find a solution in the short term. Our main focus going forward will be to secure reimbursement for Wegovy for patients with morbid obesity, says Frostelid.

Common to all the Saxenda patients TV 2 has spoken to is that they hope the authorities will now turn around.

– People are despairing and resigned. What should one do?, says Gro Sjuve Christoffersen.