Quebec pilot project will determine if public health insurance will cover Ozempic for obesity

Quebec will conduct a pilot project to test whether the public health insurance system should cover the use of Ozempic and other weight-loss drugs to treat obesity.

Currently, the drugs, four of which are approved by Health Canada, are covered by the public system in Quebec to treat Type 2 diabetes, but they are effective for general weight loss and cost about $500 per month.

Quebec's national institute for excellence in health and social services (INESSS) released a report on Monday recommending Quebec conduct a pilot project involving approximately 1,000 people. 

Those people will, under the supervision of a physician, be able to access weight-loss drugs — paid for by RAMQ, the provincial health insurance provider. 

The INESSS report recommended Quebec run its pilot project for at least two years — with the possibility of extending it to avoid negative health consequences for those participating in the project should they suddenly have to stop taking the weight-loss drugs. 

It will only be after the pilot project is concluded, and the results analyzed, that Quebec's Health Ministry will issue a decision about whether to extend the public health insurance coverage for weight-loss pharmaceuticals to obesity treatment.

That means that any approval for public coverage of weight-loss pharmaceuticals like Ozempic for obesity will likely take years. Some countries' public systems, including the United Kingdom as part of a pilot project of its own, already cover some pharmaceutical weight-loss drugs for obesity, but only under specific circumstances. 

The INESSS report said the Quebec pilot project should analyze, among other things, whether the participants' health indicators improve and if there are signs that the upfront cost of the weight-loss drugs is saving the public health system money in the long term. 

A drop in bariatric surgeries, for example, would be a good sign, according to INESSS. Bariatric surgeries, generally conducted to help morbidly obese people lose weight, cost more than $10,000 and are covered by RAMQ.

Medical professionals have expressed concerns that the popularity of weight-loss drugs like Ozempic have caused a shortage of the drugs for people who need them for Type 2 diabetes.

Quebec has already spent $264 million on Ozempic over four years for patients with Type 2 diabetes. 

Quebec's Health Ministry released a statement saying it had received the report from INESSS and would analyze its conclusions.