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Lilly's Mounjaro to cost 2,200 Danish crowns per month

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Wegovy's price ranges from 1,313 to 2,353 crowns per month

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Denmark's public health system does not reimburse

weight-loss

drugs

COPENHAGEN, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Lilly will launch

its Mounjaro obesity drug in Denmark next week, the U.S.

drugmaker said on Thursday, bringing competition to the home

country of its biggest weight-loss rival, Danish pharmaceuticals

group Novo Nordisk.

The two drugmakers are the first-to-market with highly effective

obesity treatments, a booming business that could be worth $150

billion in annual global sales by the early 2030s, according to

some analysts.

In Denmark, Lilly is up against Novo whose drug Wegovy has seen

a global whirlwind success that made the Danish group Europe's

most valuable company and boosted the national economy.

Both Mounjaro and Wegovy are cleared for weight loss in

combination with a reduced-calorie diet and increased physical

activity, and come with added health benefits alleviating many

problems linked to excess weight.

The price would be roughly 2,200 Danish crowns ($318.5) per

month, a Lilly spokesperson told Reuters.

The monthly price of Wegovy varies from 1,313 crowns for a

starter dose, to 2,353 crowns for the maximum maintenance dose,

according to the website of the Danish medicines agency.

The number of users of Wegovy in Denmark increased from

around 60,000 in January to 90,000 in August, which corresponded

with 713,950 injection pens in the first eight months of this

year, data from the Danish Health Data Authority showed.

In Denmark, a country of roughly 6 million people, around

19% of the population has a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or

above.

The public health care system does not generally reimburse

weight-loss drugs and the country's largest private health

insurer, which covers roughly half the population, stopped

paying for such drugs in 2023 due to high demand.

Mounjaro was launched in Sweden and Finland last week and

will soon be launched in Norway, the spokesperson said.

Elsewhere in Europe, the drug has also been introduced in the

UK, Poland, Spain, Switzerland and Germany.

($1 = 6.9076 Danish crowns)