Team Metabolic Health
More than 200,000 prescriptions for copies of Novo Nordisk’s (NOVOb.CO), opens new tab weight-loss drug Wegovy are getting filled by U.S. patients each month, an industry group told the U.S. drugs regulator in a letter, saying it should consider their role in alleviating the obesity drug supply crunch before barring them.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is weighing whether to remove Wegovy from its shortage list, which has allowed compounding pharmacies to combine and mix copies of the highly sought-after drugs for more than a year.
Injection pens and boxes of Novo Nordisk’s weight-loss drug Wegovy are shown in this photo illustration in Oslo, Norway, November 21, 2023. REUTERS/Victoria Klesty/Illustration/File Photo
Americans who cannot afford Wegovy or have struggled to find it have been turning to often-cheaper compounded versions sold by pharmacies and telehealth providers like Hims & Hers Health (HIMS.N), opens new tab. Wegovy has been shown to help patients lose as much as 15% of their weight on average.
Once off the shortage list, the pharmacies could be forced to halt production, potentially pushing patients back to Novo, which has so far this year nearly tripled its weekly U.S. supply.
Monthly U.S. prescriptions of Novo’s Wegovy are running about four times that of these compounders, based on member survey results from the Alliance for Pharmacy Compounding, which represents compounding pharmacists and technicians.
The survey results and the compounding industry’s letter to the FDA have not been previously reported. The group said the count was likely conservative since not all members responded.
Novo Nordisk declined to comment. It has previously said it wants to ensure patients receive only FDA-approved, safe and effective semaglutide products, and has applied to the FDA to exempt the drug from U.S. regulations that allow it to be compounded.
The FDA said it was working to determine whether the demand or projected demand for semaglutide within the U.S. exceeds the available supply, and that while compounded drugs serve an important medical need for certain patients, they also present a risk because they are not approved by the agency.
Credit: Reuters