Yearslong shortage of popular weight-loss and diabetes drugs is resolved, FDA says
A woman holds up a dosage of Wegovy, a drug used for weight loss, at her home in Front Royal, Va., on March 1, 2024. (AP Photo/Amanda Andrade-Rhoades, File)
Shortages of Ozempic and Wegovy that have been in place for more than two years have been resolved, as supplies of the popular diabetes and obesity treatments continue to improve, federal regulators said Friday.
The drugmaker Novo Nordisk can meet current and future demand in the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration said. But patients may still see some supply disruptions as the medications move from the manufacturer to distributors and then to pharmacies.
The injectable drugs have been in shortage since 2022.
Compounding pharmacies and other entities that have been allowed to make and distribute off-brand copies of the drugs during the shortage will have to wind down production in the next few months, the FDA said.
In December, the agency said the same thing when it declared that shortages had ended for Eli Lilly and Co.'s Zepbound and Mounjaro. Zepbound is approved to treat obesity and Mounjaro is approved for diabetes. They use the same active ingredient, tirzepatide.
Ozempic, for diabetes, and Wegovy, for weight loss, use the active ingredient semaglutide.
All four drugs are part of a GLP-1 class of treatments that has shown unprecedented results for helping people shed weight by decreasing appetite and boosting feelings of fullness.
Sales have soared for the drugs in recent years. But the shortages and challenges with insurance coverage have made it difficult for many patients to get the drugs.
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