(Yicai) April 16 -- Novo Nordisk's diabetes drug Ozempic is taking the world by storm but China stressed that its public health insurance will only cover Ozempic-like hit medicine to treat type 2 diabetes but not obesity.

"China will definitely not include weight-loss drugs in its basic medical insurance no matter how magical they are," the National Healthcare Security Administration announced today.

The stance clears out market participants' questions about the possibility of reimbursement regarding the wildly popular type of new drugs, used off-label for weight loss, as countries and pharmaceutical companies are debating who should receive free treatment. China added Ozempic to the national program to be used to reduce blood sugar among type 2 diabetics but not for weight loss. 

The Chinese manager of public health insurance reiterated today that in 2020 China specified that treatments for hair loss, weight loss, alcohol or smoking addiction, or cosmetic surgery are not reimbursable by the public plan.

Last year, China's basic medical insurance expenses tallied CNY2.2 trillion (USD303.9 billion), according to public data.

International pharma giants are eyeing the market of weight-loss medicine worth tens of billions of US dollars after diabetes drug giant Novo Nordisk launched pioneering products Wegovy and Ozempic, glucagon-like peptide-one receptor agonists that are shown to effectively reduce appetite. 

China has approved two GLP-1 RAs for weight loss. The first injectable drug is made by Huadong Medicine and the other one is by Benemae Pharmaceutical. But many other domestic firms are working on developing rivaling products.

Editor: Emmi Laine