Wegovy | Pakistan

Four people in Denmark who developed serious eye conditions after using popular weight-loss and diabetes drugs Wegovy and Ozempic are entitled to compensation, an independent body ruled on Friday. More than 40 people had sought reimbursement after they said they had developed a serious eye condition as a result of using one of the drugs, both made by Novo Nordisk, according to the Danish Patient Compensation Association. The condition, NAION (non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy), is a lack of blood supply to the optic nerve, which can lead to a loss of vision. The association said that it had ruled on five cases so far, and found four people who merited compensation. “It’s unfortunate for the patients who have been affected by the side effect. NAION is a serious condition that causes permanent and incurable damage to vision,” the association’s director, Karen-Inger Bast, said in a statement. Bast added that the cases were difficult to assess, given that it was a new medicine and the patients were...

Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk on Tuesday launched its blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy in India, three months after Eli Lilly began marketing its rival product Mounjaro in the world’s most populous nation. Wegovy is already under distribution and is expected to be in pharmacies by the end of the month, Novo Nordisk India Managing Director Vikrant Shrotriya said at a briefing. Lilly and Novo have been part of obesity awareness programs in India in the lead-up to their drug launches there. The market potential in India, a nation of more than 1.4 billion, is significant, with obesity and diabetes rates steadily climbing. Sales of Lilly’s weight-loss drug Mounjaro jumped 60 per cent between April and May, industry experts said. Analysts said Wegovy, a once-a-week injection, had been priced competitively to Mounjaro in India, and that is likely to encourage wider adoption of those drugs. Global demand for both Mounjaro and Wegovy has skyrocketed in recent years, with supply limited, leading to shortages in coun...