Pharmac's cardiovascular advisory committee provisionally recommended funding Wegovy (semaglutide) at high priority for people with cardiovascular disease and a BMI of 27 or more, RNZ reported. It is not a funding decision: Wegovy remains unfunded in New Zealand, where patients pay the full price, and Pharmac had already placed it on its list of medicines suitable for future funding for weight loss in May. Novo Nordisk welcomed the recommendation.
Wellington pharmacist Kelvin Lim of Hataitai Pharmacy told 1News that requests for diabetic syringes from people who said they inject peptides rose sharply over recent months, adding to shortages of syringes needed for insulin, and another Wellington pharmacist reported three to four such requests a week. Health New Zealand said its free peptide injecting kits, now handed out through needle exchanges and about 190 pharmacies, aim to ease pressure on supplies and do not mean it endorses unapproved peptides.
RNZ reported that Dr Lesley McTurk, chief executive of a trust that runs needle exchanges across most of the upper and central North Island, said peptide users now make up about 40% of its clients, where people injecting psychoactive drugs once made up 85% to 90%. Health New Zealand has handed out 2,300 peptide injecting kits through the program since mid-September, and New Zealand Customs said it refers suspected unapproved peptides found at the border to the medicines regulator Medsafe.