Czech insurers may start covering teen obesity drug Wegovy

The State Institute for Drug Control (SÚKL) in Czechia is considering allowing insurance companies to reimburse the cost of a modern weight-loss drug for children and teenagers aged 12 to 18 with obesity. This was announced by the institute's director, Tomáš Boráň, who noted that no timeline for a final decision has yet been set.

One injection a week

The drug in question is Wegovy, a new-generation weight-loss medication from the Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk. It appeared on the Czech market in 2021. Compared with older alternatives, it delivers better results, and its main advantage is that the injection only needs to be given once a week. SÚKL is currently considering reimbursement solely for children aged 12–18 who suffer from obesity.

Strict conditions for reimbursement

Even if insurers do start paying for the drug, getting reimbursed will not be straightforward. A child cannot rely on the medication alone — Wegovy is meant only as an addition to treatment, meaning parents will have to prove that the child is already trying to lose weight through diet and physical activity. What's more, if the child's weight has not dropped after 12 weeks on the drug, the right to insurance reimbursement is automatically lost.

Treatment is already available — but out of pocket

Doctors can already prescribe these drugs to children, but patients currently have to pay for the treatment themselves, and it isn't cheap. In the first weeks, a weaker dose is used, costing around 3,500 crowns a month. The dose is then gradually increased to the final level, which costs more than five thousand crowns a month and is taken over a long period.

“We warn patients that this is long-term treatment. You can't assume that taking the drug for six months, losing weight, and then simply stopping will be enough,” said Jana Křenek Maliková, head of the pediatric obesity section of the Czech Pediatric Society.

According to her, if reimbursement for children with obesity is approved, it would be excellent news — treatment would become available to far more children. She stressed that these drugs are usually not the first choice: doctors prescribe them only when they see that a patient is trying to lose weight but is not succeeding.

“This treatment also helps by reducing appetite. The child doesn't have to constantly think about food, cravings weaken, and smaller portions become enough,” Křenek Maliková explained.

Obesity is more common among the poor

According to the international HBSC (Health Behaviour in School-aged Children) study, the number of children with obesity in Czechia is growing: in 2010 the figure stood at 4%, while last year it had already reached 6.3%. The statistics also show a direct link between obesity and poverty: in wealthier families, 4% of children are obese, compared with 9% — almost one in ten — in poorer families. For such families, access to free treatment could prove especially important.

In children and teenagers, obesity is determined differently than in adults — by standards that depend on age and sex, rather than by a fixed body mass index. For example, for a twelve-year-old boy who is 165 centimeters tall, the obesity threshold is a weight of around 66 kilograms.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz