US FDA says all doses of Lilly's weight-loss and diabetes drug are now available

[August 03, 2024]  By Bhanvi Satija and Sneha S K

(Reuters) -All doses of Eli Lilly's weight-loss drug Zepbound and diabetes drug Mounjaro are now available, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration's updated shortage list showed on Friday.

However, the regulator has not yet removed the drugs off its shortage list.

Lilly's Mounjaro has been on the U.S. FDA's shortage list since late 2022, while Zepbound was added to the list in April this year.

The FDA continues to actively monitor drug availability and work with the company to ensure a stable supply of safe and effective drugs, the agency stated in an email.

The health regulator added that even when all doses of a drug are listed as available, additional criteria are considered before moving a drug off the shortages list.

These criteria include whether backorder's have been fulfilled and if the supply is meeting demand.

"All doses of Mounjaro and Zepbound are listed as available on the FDA's website which is consistent with our previous statements that supply would steadily improve toward the latter half of 2024," a spokesperson for Eli Lilly told Reuters.

Surging demand for Mounjaro and Zepbound has led Lilly to invest billions of dollars in boosting their production of these drugs. Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk, which makes rival drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, is also working to ramp up supply.

Eli Lilly logo is shown on one of the company's offices in San Diego, California, U.S., September 17, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Blake/File Photo

Originally developed for diabetes, GLP-1 therapies have shown to reduce weight by up to 20% in trials. Some analysts estimate that the market for these therapies could hit $150 billion in revenues by the early 2030s.

Several doses of Novo's Ozempic and Wegovy, both chemically known as semaglutide, have been on the U.S. health regulator's shortage list since early 2022.

Currently, all doses of diabetes drug Ozempic are available in the United States, while three doses of Wegovy remain in limited supply.

(Reporting by Bhanvi Satija and Sneha S K in Bengaluru; Editing by Shinjini Ganguli and Tasim Zahid)

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