Fashionable trend: in order to get weight loss drugs for free, citizens signed up as diabetics

Data is being revealed on tens of thousands of citizens who in 2023 were “registered” as diabetics with the ultimate goal of receiving, without paying a single euro, new generation drugs against type 2 diabetes, which at the same time help to lose weight.

Suddenly, last year, the number of “new diabetics” appearing in the IDIKA e-prescription who were brainwashed on social media, reached 100,000, leading to a surge in pharmaceutical spendingbut mainly – to disappearance of drugs from pharmacy shelves. This situation has created enormous problems for patients with type 2 diabetes taking Ozempic, Trulicity, Vegovi, Victoza, Saxenda and especially the new generation of expensive GLP-1 drugs (Ozempic, Trulicity).

According to the Electronic Social Security Administration (EDIKA), the number of people with diabetes has increased by 15% in two years. In particular, there were 1,030,226 patients with type 2 diabetes in 2021, in 2022 their number increased to 1,082,027, and in 2023 to 1,185,734. In general, from 2021 to 2023 the increase in the number of cases was 15.09% .

The President of the Panhellenic Federation of Diabetes Associations (POSSASDIA), Christos Daramilas, spoke about a big problem. “This cannot be, because every year we see an increase of 30 to 40 thousand people with diabetes mellitus (DM). And suddenly, within a year, their number reached more than 100 thousand! The number is tragically high. I think that some people were definitely “registered” as diabetics just to get an expensive medicine (for weight loss) without paying a single euro!” he said in a conversation with iatropedia.gr. The expert asks: “Are these really all people with diabetes, or were they falsely diagnosed in order to avoid buying expensive GLP-1 analogues that promote weight loss?”

The president of the committee “Επιτροπής Διαπραγμάτευσης Τιμών Φαρμάκων” Vasiliki-Konstantina Gogozotou promised an increase in spending of 130 million euros in this therapeutic category by 2024 so that more patients could be reached. However, the specialist explains that the amount indicated in the closed budget will be increased. “From now on, if we see that the increase that will be provided is not enough, Gogozotu said that she is ready to talk with the companies again so that we can begin the process of covering the real need of citizens for medicines and so that not a single diabetic patient is left without pharmaceuticals,” noted Mr. Daramilas.

Given the current situation, POSSASDIA proposes to introduce insurance barriers to the prescription of medications for type 2 diabetes. They must be based on specific criteria such as:

• Glycated hemoglobin.
• Body mass index (BMI).
• Existing cardiovascular diseases.

“This will ensure that medications are prescribed ONLY to those patients who really need them,” concluded Christos Daramilas, president of the Panhellenic Federation of Diabetes Associations (POSSASDIA).

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