‘80,000 Wegovy prescriptions issued per month’

"The Wegovy boom…80,000 prescriptions monthly based on DUR data”

Approximately 400,000 prescriptions made within 8 months of launch… Saxenda prescriptions also show an annual growth trend

Rep. Sun-Min Kim, “Given the frequent adverse events, specialist supervision is essential for safe use.”

The popular obesity drug Wegovy, which was launched in Korea in October last year, has already been prescribed about 400,000 times within eight months, raising concerns over potential misuse and abuse.

 

On the 25th, Rep.

 

Kim Sun-min of the Rebuilding Korea Party disclosed the ‘Annual and Monthly Status of Wegovy Prescriptions based on DUR’ data submitted by the Health Insurance Review and Assessment Service (HIRA) and urged safe usage.

 

According to the data, in 2023, the first month of release, the number of prescriptions flagged by the Drug Utilization Review (DUR) system for Wegovy was 11,368.

 

This increased to 16,990 prescriptions the following month, November.

 

The number then reached 21,457 prescriptions in December.

 

This year, the numbers have increased by over 10,000 cases every month to record 22,051 in January, 31,512 in February, and 47,597 in March.

 

Prescriptions then surged to 70,666 in April, then 88,895 in May.

 

In June, the number slightly decreased to 84,848.

 

This means that since its launch in October last year, Wegovy prescriptions averaged 43,931 per month, rising to an average of 57,594 per month this year.

 

Saxenda prescriptions also showed a similar pattern.

 

The number of Saxenda prescriptions in Korea, which was launched in 2018, was 138,353 in 2022, 171,230 in 2023, and 205,109 last year.

 

Experts have pointed out that while these figures alone cannot determine the exact number of recipients—as one patient may have received multiple prescriptions—the steep increase in numbers clearly indicates a rising trend in the number of people receiving injections.

 

Rep.

 

Sun-min Kim stated, “The number of prescriptions via DUR data is exceeding 80,000 per month.

 

Given the recent craze for obesity treatments, we expect significantly more people are actually receiving prescriptions.” Rep.

 

Kim emphasized, “Given the frequent reports of adverse events, obesity treatments must be used safely under the thorough care of specialists.”