Copenhagen: denmark Will start treating patients suffering from diabetes type 2 on cheap drugs before prescribing the so-called GLP-1 drugs such as novo nordisk Ozempicdanish pharmaceutical agency Said on Wednesday.

The medicine agency said that in 2023, 50 percent of new patients with type 2 diabetes will start treatment with a reimbursed GLP-1 drug without trying cheaper alternatives.

Demand for Novo Nordisk’s diabetes drug Ozempic has increased as many people have started using the diabetes drug for its weight loss effects.

Doctors and other physicians in the UK were ordered in July to stop prescribing Ozempic to people who do not have type 2 diabetes, following a national shortage of GLP-1 drugs due to increased demand for unapproved and off-label uses.

The Danish Medicines Agency expects that about half of the people currently using GLP-1 drugs will switch to cheaper alternatives, but it said it would discontinue its GLP-1 drugs if patients cannot be treated with cheaper counterparts. Will continue to reimburse patients for medications.

Medicines that will be affected when Denmark’s new regulation comes into force on November 25 this year include Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Rybelsus and Eli Lilly’s Trulicity.

The medicine agency said less expensive counterparts are recommended at the same level as GLP-1 drugs.

(Reporting by Lewis Bruce Rasmussen, editing by David Evans)