Brasília – Brazil’s health minister Alexandre Padilha defended expanding domestic production of obesity medicines as a strategy to reduce prices and broaden access to treatment. According to Padilha, while medications play an important role in tackling obesity, the current cost of new weight-loss drugs remains excessively high for most patients.

The minister argued that Brazil should strengthen the technological capacity of public laboratories and national companies to produce peptide-based medicines such as semaglutide and liraglutide, widely used in treatments for obesity and diabetes. He said the goal is for the country to “master the technology” behind these drugs, increasing competition and helping bring prices down.

Padilha also noted that the government is evaluating the targeted use of semaglutide within Brazil’s Unified Health System (SUS) for patients with severe obesity and related conditions, while maintaining prevention policies focused on diet and physical activity.

Source: O Globo