Francesca Rudkin: Wegovy could change our health system if we let it

This week has been a brutal reminder of how politics and politicians like to work and be seen. How important it is to be the centre of attention, to be seen to be ‘doing’ - even if it’s just for appearances and there’s little evidence of a real productive outcome.  

Whether it’s destabilizing global economic and trade order, championing legislation that’s dead on arrival, or feeling the need to speak for 25 hours straight, it has definitely been a fascinating week in politics.  

But for all the attention seeking, polarisation and stoking of grievances, there’s also been some good work going on.  

This week, David Seymour announced the weight-loss drug Wegovy has been approved by Medsafe, with its producer hoping to make it available in New Zealand as soon as possible.  

Wegovy is like the celebrity-championed Ozempic - it’s a semaglutide injection that acts to regulate appetite by increasing the feeling of fullness and reducing food cravings. Unlike Ozempic, which is approved in New Zealand to treat type 2 diabetes, Wegovy is approved just as a weight loss drug.  

I’ve very much sat on the fence when it comes to these drugs - like many people, including author Johann Hari, who has used Ozempic and written at length about it in his best-selling book Magic Pill.  

He cites the many concerns around the use of this drug - including its wide availability in parts of the world, its impact on eating disorders, or those who don’t really need it. Then there’s the long list of side effects and the possibility you might need to stay on it for life to maintain your weight. And then there’s the simple boredom of living life without an appetite. 

But if you use this drug selectively on people who have exhausted other means of losing weight and are facing serious health issues - it could be a massive game changer for our health system.  

It was a cardiologist involved in heart transplants who convinced me of the importance of access to drugs like Wegovy. She told me it could be the one thing which stops a heart transplant being the only option left for her patients. I’ve had GPs say to me that this could have a huge impact on reducing type 2 diabetes, orthopaedic issues, cancer, and strokes. 

They are not saying it should be available for every obese New Zealander - that would be 1 in 3 adults - but for patients with chronic complex conditions.  

But here’s the thing - at this stage Pharmac is not funding the drug, and it is cost prohibitive. Wegovy is available in Australia, it costs NZ$497 per month for the recommended dose required to have the best weight management outcome.  

So, serious work needs to go into assessing the benefit a drug such as this could have on reducing the burden on our health system. If the benefits outweigh the costs, then it needs to be funded by Pharmac as soon as possible.  

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Sunday Session podcast with Francesca Rudkin
from News talks'b.

Speaker 2 (00:12):
This week has been a brutal reminder of how politics
and politicians like to work and be seen, how important
it is to be the center of attention, to be
seen to be doing, even if it's just for appearances
and there's little evidence of a real productive outcome. Whether
it's a destabilizing global economic and trade order, championing legislation
that's dead on arrival, or feeling the need to speak

(00:34):
for twenty five hours straight, it has definitely been a
fascinating week in politics. But for all the attention seeking,
polarization and stoking of grievances, there's also been some good
work going on. This week. David Seymour announced the weight
loss drug where GOV, has been approved by Medsafe, with
its producer hoping to make it available in New Zealand
as soon as possible. So with GOV is like the

(00:56):
celebrity championed osing Peck. It's a semiglue tide injection that
acts to regulate appetite by increasing the feeling of fullness
and reducing your food cravings. But unlike osing, which has
approved in New Zealand treat type two diabetes, where GOV
is approved just as a weight loss drug. I very
much sat on the fence when it comes to these drugs,

(01:18):
like many people, including author Johann Harr, who's used ozing
peck and written about it at length in his best
selling book Magic Pill. He cites the many concerns around
the use of this drug, including its wide availability imparts
of the world, its impact on eating disorders and on
those who don't really need it. There's a long list
of side effects and the possibility you might need to
start it for life to maintain your weight, and then

(01:40):
there's this simple boredom of living life without an appetite.
But if you use this drug selectively on people who
have exhausted other means of losing weight and are facing
serious health issues, it could be a massive game changer
for our health system. It was a cardiologist involved in
heart transplants who convinced me of the importance of access

(02:01):
to drugs like WEGOV. She told me it could be
the one thing which stops at transplant patient being the
only option left for them. I've had gps say to me,
this could have a huge impact on reducing type two diabetes,
orthopedic issues, cancer and strokes. They're not saying it should
be available for every obese New Zealander that would be

(02:23):
one and three adults, but for patients with chronic complex conditions.
But here's the thing that the stage far MEC is
not funding the drug and it's cost prohibitive. With gov
is available in Australia, it costs New Zealand about four
hundred and ninety seven per month for the recommended dose
required to have the best weight management outcome. So serious

(02:44):
work needs to go into assessing the benefit a drug
such as this could have on reducing the burden on
our house system. If the benefits outweigh the costs, then
it needs to be funded by Farmac as soon as possible.

Speaker 1 (02:58):
For more from the Sunday session with Francesca Rudkin, listen
live to news Talks it'd be from nine am Sunday,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio