The Korea Institute of Drug Safety and Risk Management said that it has distributed safety instructions to hospitals and clinics across the country for the safe use of liraglutide, the main component of Novo Nordisk's obesity treatment, Saxenda.
The instruction includes precautions for administration, adverse events that may occur, adverse events prevention, countermeasures, and storage method.
According to the administration precautions in the safety instructions, patients with medullary thyroid cancer or a family history of such cancer, patients with multiple endocrine adenomas, pregnant or lactating women, and patients with hypersensitivity to the components should not use the drug.
The institute also advised people with heart failure, severe renal or hepatic dysfunction, inflammatory bowel disease, or diabetic gastroparesis to refrain from using the treatment. In addition, people with thyroid disease, mild or moderate hepatic dysfunction, or type 2 diabetes who take diabetes medications can take the drug but should consider it before using it.
"When administering the drug, observe the correct usage, dosage, and storage method. Do not share drugs or used needles with other people, and after administration, check for changes in the body that are different from usual and consult a specialist if any abnormal symptoms are felt," the agency said.
According to the guide, adverse events that may occur after the administration of liraglutide obesity treatment include injection site reactions, gastrointestinal disorders, nausea and vomiting, hypoglycemia, insomnia, and dizziness.
The agency stressed that it hopes that the use of this information will help people safely use liraglutide obesity treatment."
Meanwhile, Saxenda, an obesity treatment approved as a GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1) analog, has proved itself as a safe obesity drug by suppressing appetite with the same mechanism as GLP-1 in the human body.
Based on a report from IQVIA, a drug market research company, the treatment recorded 7.5 billion won ($6.5 million) in sales in 2018. It quickly rose to the top in the obesity treatment market after posting 42.5 billion won in sales in 2019.
Last year, it recorded 36.8 billion won, down 13.4 percent from the previous year, but the treatment still occupies the largest share of the obesity treatment market.