Ozempic Diabetes drug in short supply as its use for weight loss goes viral
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The Health Products Regulatory Authority has warned that shortages of diabetes drug Ozempic are to continue as supply is hit by social media-driven use in weight loss.
Ozempic (semaglutide) is approved by the HSE and other international health bodies only as treatment for Type II diabetes. However, the hashtag #Ozempic now has over one billion views on Tiktok, driving up demand worldwide.
HPRA director of compliance Grainne Power described the market as “a very tight situation” during a briefing on medicines shortages for media and politicians. She said:
“Really until the company can address this with an adequate supply of semaglutide to meet the demand, the situation will continue.”
Manufacturer Novo Nordisk has communicated this to European health bodies, she said.
“And then this position has been further communicated through the shortage framework to healthcare professionals to make sure that everybody along the supply chain is aware of the very tight situation we are in,” she said.
In November, the HSE wrote to GPs advising them against prescribing this to patients who do not have diabetes.
Ms Power also defended the handling of antibiotic shortages linked especially to concern around invasive Group A Streptococcus (iGAS).
The latest data shows 305 cases notified in the first five months of 2023 compared with an average of 67 cases during 2017 to 2019. Since October 12 children have died and 13 adults.
“The supply chain was under pressure," she said.
“What we saw was a really heightened demand medically and from the public, and genuinely the line items that were being sought in terms of antibiotics were two and three times the normal December or January demand for any other year."
At the same briefing, Clinical Lead with the HSE AMRIC programme Eimear Brannigan said a number of antibiotics can treat Strep A.
“It is my understanding from the incident management team, which was as recently as yesterday, that the supply lines of all of those antibiotics, not only about the penicillin, have stabilised significantly but we continue to stay in touch with the issue,” she said.
However, she added: “We still keep hearing about people having difficulty in accessing a particular agent” and she urged people to discuss alternatives with pharmacists.