Mexico Adds Ozempic’s Active Ingredient to Public Health Catalog for Diabetes and Obesity

Mexico City — Mexico’s General Health Council has added semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy, to the national catalog of medicines that public hospitals and clinics may purchase, restricting its use to type 2 diabetes and obesity under strict conditions.

The council, which advises the Health Ministry, published the 2025 update to the National Compendium of Health Supplies in the Official Gazette (DOF). The listing lets public health institutions request the drug, but only if they include it in their own procurement plans.

Limited to diabetes and obesity

Under the rules in the agreement, semaglutide may be prescribed only to patients with type 2 diabetes who are at high cardiovascular risk and living with obesity, and its use must be combined with diet and exercise.

The council approved it for adults with a body mass index in the obesity range plus at least one related condition: prediabetes, type 2 diabetes, dyslipidemia, obstructive sleep apnea or cardiovascular disease. It may also be prescribed to adolescents older than 12 who have obesity and weigh more than 60 kilograms (132 pounds).

Semaglutide regulates glucose and curbs appetite by acting on the parts of the brain that control feelings of fullness. That effect has driven heavy demand — including from people who have neither obesity nor diabetes — and pushed prices up in the commercial market. Public institutions may request the drug in once-weekly injectable form and in tablets.

Other drugs added

The same update adds treatments for advanced breast cancer (tucatinib) and non-small cell lung cancer (atezolizumab and durvalumab), as well as medicines for immunoallergic and cardiovascular diseases. The agreement took effect with its publication.