Burjeel CMO: GLP-1 obesity care in UAE now needs 10,000-step evidence

GLP-1 weight-loss medicines should be prescribed in the UAE with documented lifestyle changes, Dr Mohammad Fityan, group chief medical officer at Burjeel Holdings, told the Dubai International Pharma and Technologies conference on 26 August 2026.

The highest-stakes readers are COOs, CFOs and medical directors. For clinics, the issue is workflow: medication starts the treatment plan, then dietetics, activity tracking, sleep review and follow-up visits need a place in the record. For insurers, the question is benefit design. For patients, the question is whether monthly spending delivers durable weight loss after the first prescription.

What the Dubai warning changes for clinics

Dr Fityan told The National that medicines such as Mounjaro and Wegovy can address part of the problem, while the remaining work sits with patient behaviour. His comments matter in Dubai because the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) licenses the clinics, physicians and nutrition professionals that will carry the follow-up burden.

"The medicine will give you 50 to 60 per cent of the solution; the other 40 to 50 per cent is on the patient." Dr Mohammad Fityan, group chief medical officer, Burjeel Holdings

He also said some insurers are connecting reimbursement for obesity treatment to daily physical activity targets, including 10,000 steps per day, with step counts linked to the clinic's electronic medical record. The National did not name those insurers. Operators should treat the example as an early signal, then check payer rules directly before quoting coverage to patients.

The P&L issue is duration, not the first box

Prices remain material for self-pay patients. Public retail and pharmacy data show Wegovy pill packs in the UAE starting around AED 779, with higher strengths reported at AED 1,199 and AED 1,610. Life Pharmacy listed a Mounjaro KwikPen 2.5mg product at AED 1,560.60 after discount, with an original price of AED 1,734, on 28 August 2026. Final cost depends on dose, stock, consultation fees and whether the indication is obesity or diabetes.

Coverage is the harder number. Large payers such as Daman, Thiqa and Sukoon may apply different pre-authorisation rules by plan, emirate and diagnosis code. Clinics should verify eligibility through the payer portal or broker before treatment starts. A patient who pays for four weeks, then discovers dietitian visits or titration reviews are excluded, is a predictable service complaint.

• Record baseline BMI, waist measurement, HbA1c status and weight-related comorbidities before prescribing.
• Confirm whether the patient meets obesity or overweight-with-comorbidity criteria under the medicine label.
• Document dietitian referral, activity target, sleep history and follow-up date in the EMR.
• Ask the payer whether reimbursement depends on activity data, visit frequency or weight-loss milestones.

Regulators and patients will look for continuity

The medicines sit inside a UAE regulatory chain. The Emirates Drug Establishment (EDE) handles federal medicine registration. DHA regulates Dubai providers, the Department of Health Abu Dhabi (DOH) regulates Abu Dhabi and Al Ain, and the Ministry of Health and Prevention (MOHAP) covers the northern emirates with Emirates Health Services and local authorities. That split matters when multi-site operators use one obesity protocol across Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah and Ras Al Khaimah.

Novo Nordisk said on 3 June 2026 that the UAE was the first country outside the US where Wegovy pill became available. The company said oral semaglutide 25mg produced about 17% mean weight loss in the OASIS 4 trial when treatment was adhered to. That figure is clinically meaningful, but it still depends on selection, adherence and monitoring.

The macro case is large enough to draw payer attention. Whiteshield and Eli Lilly estimated that reducing UAE obesity could free up $1.5 billion in health expenditure tied to diabetes, cardiovascular disease and cancer, according to The National. The same report estimated 1.2 million people could gain 6.8 years of healthy lifespan if obesity rates fell from about 32% toward the global average of 18%.

The next commercial test is whether UAE providers can sell obesity care as a monitored programme rather than a prescription visit. Clinics building GLP-1 services should pair endocrinology or family medicine with licensed nutrition dietetics, payer checks and EMR-based follow-up. Patients can compare licensed providers through the UAE Open Healthcare Directory, which lists nutrition and dietetics providers across the seven emirates.