At least 25,000 people in the US are starting weight-loss drug Wegovy each week, drugmaker says

Drugmaker Novo Nordisk said it’s been increasing supply of its sought-after weight-loss drug Wegovy, with at least 25,000 people now starting to take the medicine each week in the United States. That’s more than a capacity crowd at Madison Square Garden, which holds 19,500 people. It’s about five times more than were able to start the medicine each week in December, the Danish pharmaceutical giant said in an earnings call Thursday.
Related article
Sanders launches Senate investigation into ‘outrageously high’ pricing of Ozempic, Wegovy
Novo Nordisk, which also makes Ozempic for type 2 diabetes, has been limiting how much of the lowest doses of Wegovy it has made available for the past year to avoid having too many new patients start the medicines amid a shortage. The drugs are designed to be started at lower doses that gradually increase over time, to limit side effects like nausea. “Based on the progress we’ve made in building manufacturing capacity, our plan to gradually and continuously increase shipments of the three lowest dose strengths of Wegovy is working,” the company said in a news release. Both Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, which makes competitor drugs Mounjaro and Zepbound, have been working to combat shortages of the medicines amid unprecedented demand. The companies have been both buying and building manufacturing plants to try to keep up, but the shortages – as well as difficult insurance coverage for many patients – can make the medicines hard to access. Wegovy was shown in a major clinical trial last year to not only aid with weight loss, but also to prevent heart attacks, strokes and heart-related death in people at elevated cardiovascular risk, potentially increasing demand for the medicine even further.
Sign up here to get The Results Are In with Dr. Sanjay Gupta every Tuesday from the CNN Health team. Eli Lilly also said it expects supply to increase later this year. “The demand for tirzepatide is very strong,” Lilly Chief Financial Officer Anat Ashkenazi said on the company’s quarterly earnings conference call this week, referring to the active ingredient in Mounjaro and Zepbound. “Each week, hundreds of thousands of people fill [prescriptions] for Mounjaro and Zepbound, yet we understand the frustration from those facing prescription delays or uncertainties getting their medicine,” Ashkenazi continued. “While we are working tirelessly to ramp supply and expect meaningful increases in shipment volumes in the second half of the year, demand continues to outstrip even increased supply.”