Politicians urge drugmakers to help pay compensation claims

Several Danish politicians want pharmaceutical companies to help pay compensation for injuries caused by their medicines, DR reports. The demand comes as the Health Ministry examines whether Novo Nordisk can ultimately be held responsible for compensation linked to its weight-loss drug Wegovy.

Anders Hansen recently received five million kroner after losing much of his sight following treatment with Wegovy. The money came from the state, rather than Novo Nordisk.

“I cannot see why taxpayers should pay. It is not as if Novo is short of money. If these are their products, then it is also their responsibility, and I think they should pay,” Hansen said.

State has paid 512 million kroner

Under Denmark’s patient compensation system, the state, rather than drug companies, pays compensation for injuries caused by medicines.

The Health Ministry has paid a total of 512 million kroner for medicine-related injuries over the past 10 years, according to Patienterstatningen. In the first eight months of 2026, it paid nearly 50 million kroner, including more than 10 million kroner for injuries linked to Wegovy.

When the first patients were awarded compensation for Wegovy-related vision damage in December last year, then-Health Minister Sophie Løhde of the Liberal Party asked the government’s legal adviser, the Kammeradvokaten, to examine whether Novo Nordisk could be made to pay.

Kent Kristensen, a health law lecturer at Aalborg University, said the state had tried to involve the pharmaceutical industry when the current rules were created in 1995. However, the industry did not agree to a voluntary arrangement, he said.

Kristensen believes it should now be examined whether medicine manufacturers should be held liable for compensation.

Calls for shared financing

Peder Hvelplund, health spokesperson for the Red-Green Alliance, called it a mistaken principle that the state rather than the pharmaceutical industry pays for medicine-related injuries.

“The pharmaceutical industry makes a fortune producing medicines. It should obviously also share responsibility for the injuries that the products it puts on the market may cause,” he said, adding that companies should help finance compensation cases.

Jens Henrik Thuelsen Dahl of the Denmark Democrats also said drug manufacturers should contribute. He said his party was open to considering a fairer division of costs between the state and industry.

Rasmus Lund-Nielsen, health spokesperson for the government party the Moderates, wants to retain a system in which patients do not have to sue pharmaceutical companies themselves and the state initially pays compensation.

“But that does not mean the state should ultimately bear the entire bill,” he said. The companies have responsibility for their products, while the state is responsible for providing a proper safety net for the medicines it approves, he said.

Danske Patienter, an organisation representing patients, warned that patients could ultimately face higher medicine prices or fewer products if companies were required to pay compensation.

“That does not mean the pharmaceutical industry should go free,” said the organisation’s director, Morten Freil. He said public authorities should ensure more clearly that the risk of serious side effects is reflected in the prices and terms agreed with companies.

Health Minister Ida Auken did not wish to comment. Novo Nordisk referred questions to the Danish Association of the Pharmaceutical Industry, Lif.

Lif’s deputy chief executive, Henrik Vestergaard, said in a written statement that the rules should not be changed. “Lif does not want to change the fundamental principles of Denmark’s patient compensation system,” he said.