FRANKFURT (Reuters) – Eli Lilly is in discussions with the German government to try to end the ban on weight-loss treatments being covered by the country’s health system, a company executive told Spiegel magazine on Monday .

Representatives of the U.S. maker of obesity and diabetes drugs have a “good dialogue” with the federal government, said Ilya Yuffa, president of Eli Lilly International.

“I am optimistic about the possibility of reaching an agreement,” he added in an interview with Spiegel, highlighting the company’s commitment to making significant industrial investments in Germany.

The weekly injection of the weight loss drug Mounjaro, developed by Eli Lilly, was approved in the European Union late last year for certain overweight or obese patients, when combined with a low-calorie diet and physical exercise.

Mounjaro was introduced to the European market in a staggered manner, in Germany, Poland and Switzerland, and its introduction in Great Britain is planned in the coming weeks.

The launch comes as growing demand for Ozempic, a competing diabetes drug created by Novo Nordisk, has pushed the company’s production capacity beyond its limits. The weekly injection is a lower-dose version of Wegovy, another weight-loss drug from Novo Nordisk, which is also in very high demand.

Until now, European governments were against the reimbursement of these new weight loss treatments to preserve their health budgets, Germany being one of the strictest countries in this area.

The German Health Ministry had no immediate comment on the matter.

Mounjaro showed better results in clinical trials than Wegovy in terms of weight loss in patients suffering from obesity.

Eli Lilly is set to build its first factory in Germany in the western town of Alzey for €2.3 billion to produce diabetes and weight loss drugs. of weight, including the Mounjaro.

(Reporting Ludwig Burger, Mathias de Rozario, edited by Kate Entringer)

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