Surging demand for drugmaker Novo Nordisk’s highly popular diabetes treatments Ozempic and Wegovy, which have become household names in the U.S. as weight-loss medications, has created a major supply shortage that has left Americans empty-handed, as insurance complications compound Americans’ access to the booming drugs.
As Forbes reports, Novo Nordisk admitted in a statement last month demand for Wegovy “continues to outpace our increasing production” and it anticipates an “ongoing supply disruption,” though it pledged at the time to limit quantities of its lower-dose versions of the drug (0.25, 0.5 and 1 milligrams) for retail pharmacies “in an effort to support continuity of care for existing patients.”
Novo Nordisk reported a 29% increase in sales over the first six months of the year, resulting in “periodic supply constraints and related drug shortage notifications,” while the company expects sales to grow between 27% and 33% over the next year at a constant exchange rate.
The primary reason is a shortage of the drug semaglutide, sold as both the diabetes treatment Ozempic and as Wegovy, though CEO Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen told Bloomberg last month that the drugmaker is “not concerned” about ongoing supply shortages, even after he admitted at a Reuters Newsmaker event it could “take quite some years” before the company fully meets demand for the drug.
Unlike Wegovy, Ozempic and Eli Lilly’s diabetes treatment drug Mounjaro have not been approved as a weight-loss drug, and so many insurance companies do not cover them for weight-loss—and according to the Associated Press, some insurers don’t cover Wegovy.
Mounjaro, the brand name for the drug tirzepatide, which also has been experiencing shortages, could also receive approval from the Food and Drug Administration to treat obesity, opening up insurance coverage options, the Associated Press reported.
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