AMSTERDAM, July 17 (Reuters) - Novo Nordisk's

hugely popular weight-loss drug Wegovy should not be covered

under the basic insurance of the Netherlands, the country's

healthcare institute said in an advice to the Dutch government.

It was unclear whether the health effects of Wegovy were

large enough to weigh up against the costs of the medicine, the

healthcare minister's main adviser said.

With around 4 million people in the Netherlands likely to

benefit from Wegovy, it said total costs for the government

could rise to around 1.3 billion euros ($1.42 billion).

The institute said even though Wegovy is effective for

losing weight, more research is needed to determine the actual

health effects.

It also flagged concern about the global shortage of the

medicine's main ingredient, semaglutide, which is vital for the

treatment of diabetes.

"These shortages emphasize the importance of critically

weighing which people have the largest benefit from a medicine,"

the institute said.

($1 = 0.9168 euros)

(Reporting by Bart Meijer; Editing by Arun Koyyur)