Popular diabetes medication Mounjaro will be in short supply through April
PITTSBURGH (KDKA) — A popular diabetes medication will be in short supply for much longer than previously expected.
Now, pharmacists and Pittsburgh-area patients like Mark Allen are scrambling. Allen reached out to KDKA-TV because he wanted to know if he was alone in this stressful search and hoped we could get him in touch with a pharmacy that has this diabetes medication in stock.
The FDA announced this week that the shortage of the top-selling diabetes medication Mounjaro will continue through the end of April.
"Beginning with my local pharmacy, I had called a total of eight different pharmacies," said Allen, a type 2 diabetic.
The Apollo man needs this medication to keep his glucose in check. He's already feeling the effects.
"My A1C, which is an average glucose reading over three months, has been in the low sevens. And my A1C that I just had done was 9.3. And that's not acceptable at all," Allen said.
KDKA-TV reached out to Allegheny Health Network and found out that nearly all type 2 diabetics are dealing with this shortage.
"It's on a daily basis I'm fielding a question from one of my providers or a patient that I'm directly working with of not being able to find their medication," said Sarah Winter, a clinical pharmacist at Allegheny Health Network.
Winter needed to make a computer shortcut to the FDA's online shortage list because she's on it so often.
"Ozempic is the diabetic medication and Wegovy is the sister medication for weight loss. And when it comes to Mounjaro the sister medication for weight loss is Zepbound, but of course, it's the newest one on the market and it's already on shortage." said Winter.
She said Mounjaro is just one of the drugs type 2 diabetics can't find for reasons like supply and demand and using the medications off-label for weight loss. Now, she's forced to find different doses or switch patients to different medications in the same class.
"The hope was that once they started to make medications specifically branded for weight loss, that it would start to improve. But I just don't think we've seen the manufacturer bounce back from the supply and demand," said Winter.
And she says for patients like Allen, this shortage could mean serious health problems if he messes with his dose.
"They can have very negative side effects as far as stomach, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and sometimes they can be significant enough to put people into the emergency room," said Winter.
Allen wants people trying to get these diabetes medicines for weight loss to consider how it's impacting diabetics too.
"I do have friends who are on it for weight loss and I don't have hard feelings towards them, I just think that it's being prescribed wrong," said Allen.
They have increased the requirements for doctors to prescribe these medications off-label, and many insurers now require a preauthorization to get the diabetic medication for weight loss.
The maker of Mounjaro, Eli Lilly, points to unprecedented demand for the shortage.
A spokesperson from Lilly issued this statement:
"We recognize this situation may cause a disruption in peoples' treatment regimens and are working with purpose and urgency to address it. As a medicine company, we know that people rely on us to help reach and maintain their health goals, and we take our responsibility very seriously.
"While we anticipate intermittent availability in the near term due to unprecedented demand, we expect our investments in manufacturing and supply capacity to progressively increase production of Mounjaro and Zepbound throughout the second half of 2024. You can find updates on the supply status of these medicines on the FDA Drug Shortages Database.
"Given local and regional supply chain dynamics, patients having trouble obtaining their medicine at one pharmacy may try revisiting their pharmacy at a later time or exploring other pharmacies in their area. Alternatively, if someone continues to experience difficulty obtaining their medicine, they can contact their healthcare provider who can assist with their treatment plan."