With a new slimming app, you can get a prescription on your mobile phone in Norway – the medical association critical – NRK Rogaland – Local news, TV and radio

– I fear patients may overcompensate in order to be sure that they will be able to get slimming medicine, says Marte Kvittum Tangen.

She is a leader in the Norwegian Association for General Medicine.

Tangen refers to a new app that has just hit the market in Norway. An app-based health service called Yazen.

Via the app you can buy another membership for just under NOK 1,200 a month. You register digitally and submit your weight, measurements and a blood test.

A doctor can then digitally give you a prescription for the slimming medicine Wegovy. You pay for the medicine in addition. Annually, it costs up to NOK 36,000.

So if you pay up to NOK 50,000 a year, you can get slimming injections on prescription without physically attending a doctor’s office.

– First of all, we want to help people get out of an obesity problem, says doctor Magnus Nyhlen.

He is one of the founders behind the app. It already has close to 12,500 subscribers in Sweden. In Norway, it has around 100 subscribers.

Nyhlen is one of three doctors who are responsible for the Norwegian patients.

In addition, they have, among other things, nutritionists, physiotherapists and psychologists.

Worried about dieting via app

The Norwegian Medical Association is skeptical of such medical treatment via an app.

– We know that the best healthcare is provided when patient and doctor trust each other and the doctor knows the patient, says Marte Kvittum Tangen.

The app founder believes that there are both advantages and disadvantages to digital healthcare.

– Digital health care has been established and is recommended for people being treated for obesity, including by the British health care system. We also see good results with the Yazen model, he says.

– But isn’t there a danger that patients can provide incorrect information in order to receive the slimming medicine Wegovy?

– No, I don’t mean that. In addition to a blood test and submitted weight and measurements, we ask patients to take a body image and send it to us. They also receive close follow-up. We get a very clear picture of the patient’s overweight or obesity problem, says Nyhlen.

Yazen can also request a video conference if they are in doubt.

There is no doubt that there is a market for diet pills. Last year, pharmacies sold 1.5 million packages of various types of this medicine.

Profit before health care?

In order to be prescribed slimming medication via the slimming app, you must have a BMI of 34. If you have underlying diseases, the requirement is 27.

– I fear profit may come before health care here, says Marte Kvittum Tangen.

She believes this is an extra vulnerable group that needs close follow-up.

Magnus Nyhlen responds by saying that everything Yazen earns goes into further development of the product.

For the record: Yazen has an annual turnover of around NOK 150 million.

Nyhlen says they are concerned that the patients should use as low doses of diet medication as possible. He believes the long-term effect is then the best.

– But don’t you imagine that the patients will ever stop taking the medicine?

– No, as with medicines for other chronic diseases, we envision that the patients will be on low doses of this medicine for life, says app founder Nyhlen.

The medical association is also skeptical about this:

– We don’t know anything about the long-term effect. There are always side effects when using such drugs. We are concerned that the patients may have reduced muscle mass, says Marte Kvittum Tangen.

Can supervise

NRK has asked the Norwegian Health Authority and the Directorate of Health for a comment on this type of app. They refer to the Directorate for Medical Products (DMP).

DMP states that dIt is legal and common to offer online healthcare services.

– The decisive factor is whether the service is designed in such a way that the patients receive proper health care, writes oclergyman Sigurd Hortemo in an e-mail to NRK.

The Norwegian Health Authority and the county doctor at the State Administrator supervise whether the health care is sound.

DMP can supervise the marketing of medicinal products to ensure that the actors follow the rules for advertising.

– It is not permitted to advertise prescription drugs aimed at the general public, says Hortemo.

Yazen will also be established in England, the Netherlands and Spain in 2024.