Diabetes patients face supply problems from weight-loss drugs' popularity

Even though Mounjaro and Ozempic are only approved to treat diabetes, they also are being widely, and legally, prescribed off-label for weight loss, creating supply problems for people who need them for diabetes.

Steven Adams, 56, of Westbury, who has diabetes and takes Ozempic, said those without diabetes who are looking to lose weight should stay away from Ozempic and Mounjaro.

“It upsets me that people are getting this who don’t have diabetes,” he said.

Ozempic, he said, “is lifesaving to me because while helping with my diabetes and lowering my A1C [which measures blood sugar levels], I could lose weight at the same time.” Adams was worried earlier this year when his Ozempic shipment was delayed because of shortages, although he got his medicine in time.

There also are shortages of Wegovy, which is U.S. Food and Drug Administration-approved for weight loss for those with obesity and for others with a weight-related health condition. It is not approved for those at weights the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention considers “healthy.”

Novo Nordisk, which makes Ozempic and Wegovy, and Eli Lilly, manufacturer of Mounjaro, said in statements they are increasing manufacturing in response to demand.

An American Diabetes Association official said in a statement that while supply “has been a challenge,” there has been “some improvement” in supply of the diabetes drugs, and the FDA drug shortage list shows there currently are not shortages of most dosages of the medications.

Benefits of the medications are unevenly distributed. An analysis by the health care research and analytics firm Trilliant Health found areas of the country with high rates of obesity and diabetes often have lower rates of Ozempic use than areas with relatively low rates of the diseases, indicating that many of the prescriptions are off-label, said the company’s chief research officer, Sanjula Jain.

“The regions that have higher prevalence of those conditions, representing the individuals that have the greatest need for the therapeutic, are not necessarily the ones that are taking them,” she said.

Dr. Eileen Barr, an obesity physician in East Setauket, said she’s frustrated that some people who take the medications primarily for aesthetic reasons are able to obtain them, while others who need them to lose weight to improve their health cannot. Insurance companies often deny coverage when the drugs are used for weight loss rather than diabetes, so people who can’t afford to pay for them out of pocket are denied access, no matter how great their medical need, she said.

“It’s a disgrace that people who have had difficulty with the disease of obesity, usually throughout their lifetime, are now having this tool placed in front of them but it’s inaccessible to so many,” she said.

The medications have the potential to reduce health inequities, said Dr. Fatima Cody Stanford, an associate professor of medicine and pediatrics at Harvard Medical School and an obesity medicine physician at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston. Obesity and diabetes rates are higher among Black and Latin Americans, and diabetes is much more common in people with lower than higher incomes.

“We have the ability to help close some of the gaps when these patients get equitable access to coverage and therapy for medications that we know can treat this disease process,” Stanford said.

By David Olson

david.olson@newsday.com@DavidOlson11

David Olson covers health care. He has worked at Newsday since 2015 and previously covered immigration, multicultural issues and religion at The Press-Enterprise in Southern California.