(Reuters) -The European Medicines Agency said on Friday its committee has recommended expanding the use of Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk's weight loss drug in adolescents aged 12 years and older.
The drugmaker told Reuters the Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use's (CHMP) positive opinion was an "important recognition of the unmet medical need among adolescents living with obesity and the need for additional treatment options".
Novo's Wegovy, a semaglutide-based drug, activates GLP-1, a hormone that triggers the feeling of fullness in the body after eating. It has been approved in the U.S. and European Union for treatment of obesity in adults.
The company did not indicate a timeline for its plans to launch the drug, already available in Denmark and Norway, in other EU countries.
Earlier this year, the American Academy of Pediatrics also recommended use of weight-loss drugs in children aged 12 years or older, following the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's approval in December of the drug for that population.
(Reporting by Radhika Anilkumar and Bhanvi Satija in Bengaluru and Nikolaj Skydsgaard in Copenhagen; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli, Kirsten Donovan)
