Filenews 1 August 2025 - by Marilena Panagi
The Health Insurance Organization is clarifying the beneficiaries of the General Health System who receive the injectable formulation Ozempic, with the aim that the drug, intended for diabetics, is administered through the System exclusively to real patients. In fact, the HIO has informed the doctors of the competent specialties, inviting them to submit their requests, on behalf of their patients, by August 31, 2025.
As is well known, this injectable preparation for diabetes has been seriously exploited internationally, but also in Cyprus by people who wish to lose weight for aesthetic reasons.
As a result, in previous years, doctors prescribed it, in addition to diabetics, to people who simply wanted to lose weight. With the inclusion of the drug in the GHS, the HIO, in order not to create a problem for real patients, continued to administer it to all people who had a prescription until that moment. However, with the passage of three months from the date of the inclusion of the drug in the System, the Organization decided to proceed with a clarification of the list of patients who receive the drug through the GHS and limit its administration strictly and only to diabetics.
After all, from 2022 until now, both the EU and the Pharmaceutical Services of the Ministry of Health have made strict recommendations to doctors to prescribe Ozempic only to diabetics. At times, moreover, due to the international misuse of the drug, there have been serious shortages and insufficient stocks, putting patients at risk.
With these data, the HIO decided that through the GHS only those beneficiaries who are diabetic will receive Ozempic on the basis of a specific protocol. With this practice, patients who started taking it after its inclusion in the System also secure the preparation.
In its relevant announcement/briefing to doctors, the HIO states that "from 01/09/2025, applications regarding the continuation of treatment with the pharmaceutical product Semaglutide, sold under the brand name Ozempic, will not be accepted, if they concern patients who started treatment with the drug in question before 15/05/2025 that joined the GHS". Therefore, "the attending physicians are invited to submit by 31/08/2025 all requests regarding the continuation of treatment in such cases of patients with type II diabetes, if they have not already done so".
The HIO clarifies that the requests concerning:
>> Initiation of treatment with the specific medicinal product on the basis of the protocol approved by the Agency.
>> Continued treatment after approval by the Organization are not affected.
Furthermore, the HIO informs that "it will continue to accept requests for the start of treatment after 01/09/2025 if the cases meet the provisions of the approved protocol, as well as requests for continuation of treatment if approval has already been given by the Organization for treatment with the drug in question within the GHS and provided that the criteria for the continuation of treatment of the protocol are met".
Within the GHS, with a nominal request, Mounjaro for obesity
For patients diagnosed with obesity through the General Health System, the injectable formulation Mounjaro is also available. At present, this drug, which is addressed to patients with obesity and diabetics, is administered upon a nominal request by doctors to the competent Committee for Nominal Requests for Medicines of the HIO.
Mounjaro is a relatively new drug that was manufactured, along with other similar formulations, after the frenzy that had taken over the planet and led to the abuse of Ozempic, with the difference that it is an injection that is aimed at people with diagnosed obesity who meet certain criteria.
At the moment, as we are informed, no request has been submitted to the Health Insurance Organization for the inclusion of Mounjaro in the GHS. However, the drug is administered to patients who need it through the name requests process.
