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.  

LISTEN ABOVE