Weight-loss drug use doubles to nearly 80,000 current patients in the Netherlands
Dutch doctors are prescribing nearly twice as many weight-loss medications as last year, with an estimated 80,000 people currently using drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy, according to data from the Stichting Farmaceutische Kengetallen. The surge follows updated general practitioner guidelines for obesity, which included these medications for the first time last year. Previously, the drugs were prescribed mainly for patients with diabetes.
Patients seeking reimbursement must have completed at least one year of an official lifestyle program without success. “After that, you still need to go through that program,” internist and obesity professor Liesbeth van Rossum from Erasmus MC in Rotterdam told NOS. “And the criteria differ depending on the medication. You can’t just request a drug casually.”
Proper medical supervision is also critical. “Patients must build up the dose very slowly under a doctor’s guidance. If you order it online, you often increase the dose too quickly, which can be harmful,” Van Rossum added.
"Obesity is a complex, chronic disease that is difficult to treat," Van Rossum explained. "These medications influence bodily processes that obesity disrupts. Pills target certain brain regions important for reward, reducing cravings and making it easier to live a healthier life. The injection pens mimic gut hormones released after meals, creating a sense of fullness that is often impaired in obese patients. People walk around with “food noise"—the persistent feeling that they need to eat even when full.”
The medications were approved by the European Medicines Agency in 2015 but became eligible for reimbursement only in 2020. A guideline for doctors and paramedics in 2023 preceded the current rise in prescriptions. “Now that it’s included in the guidelines, it has become standard practice for GPs,” Van Rossum added.
GP Bas van Houweling, who prescribes the medications, said patients often react emotionally. “People sit in tears because they are finally losing weight and seeing their obesity level decrease,” he told NOS. He noted that media attention has also increased demand.
Patients should expect to use the medications chronically. “Fat tissue in obesity is chronically slightly inflamed. The inflammation decreases, but the disease does not disappear,” Van Rossum said. A small group may eventually taper off, but in general, stopping the medication leads to weight regain.
