All doses of Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic are expected to face “intermittent shortages” in Europe during the fourth quarter of the year, especially lower doses, supplies of which have “deteriorated,” according to a joint letter by the EMA and the Danish pharma.
Both Novo and Eli Lilly have been racing to scale up manufacturing for their respective blockbuster GLP-1s. But it appears that Novo is lagging to meet demand with this latest update, while Lilly has made some supply headway in both the US and Europe.
The letter for healthcare professionals, which the EMA posted to its website on Monday, stated that there will be a supply crunch especially for 0.25 mg and 0.5 mg doses, adding that no new patients should start Ozempic due to limited availability. Previously, Novo guided healthcare workers in November 2023 to “limit initiations of new patients” on the drug.
The joint letter also stated that no new patients should be started on Novo’s other GLP-1 brand, Victoza, for type 2 diabetes, as some European countries are still facing shortages.
High demand and capacity constraints at manufacturing sites have led to the GLP-1 drugs being out of stock in some cases, the letter shows. The EMA has previously said Novo’s Saxenda was also at risk of shortage.
“We continue to expand our global production, which has been running 24 hours a day, seven days a week. In 2024, we plan to invest DKK 45 billion in production compared to actual investments of DKK 25 billion last year,” a Novo spokesperson told Endpoints News in an email.
Meanwhile, Lilly’s Monjaro and Zepbound are not on the EMA’s shortage list, but the EMA has said that another GLP-1 brand from Lilly, Trulicity, is at risk of shortage.
In the US, Novo said last month that nearly all doses of Wegovy and Ozempic were removed from the FDA’s shortage list, adding that it had doubled the number of Wegovy patients. As for Lilly, all doses of tirzepatide were labeled as “available” on the FDA website but still remained on the shortage list.
Lilly said last week it is ramping up supply as it starts to market single-dose vials of tirzepatide at half the price to expand access.