Ozempic Shortages in EU Will Not Affect All Member States

LONDON (Reuters) – Intermittent shortages of diabetes drug Ozempic in the European Union that are expected to continue into the final quarter of 2024 because of strong demand will not affect all member states, the Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk said.

In a note published by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Monday, the company recommended healthcare workers continue limiting treatment initiation of new patients on Ozempic and its other diabetic drug, Victoza, until the supply situation improves.

A Novo Nordisk spokesperson then told Reuters late on Tuesday that the information about the shortages was originally agreed with the EMA “earlier this summer” and that the agency shared it publicly after ensuring individual member states were informed first.

Novo is racing to expand production capacity to meet runaway demand for Ozempic and Wegovy, its obesity drug containing the same active ingredient. Some analysts forecast the obesity drug market could be worth about $150 billion by the early 2030s.

“Intermittent shortages are expected into the Q4, however we continue to expand our global production capacity, which has been running 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” the spokesperson said in an emailed response to a Reuters query about Ozempic’s availability in the EU. “Not all member states may be impacted by supply shortages,” the spokesperson said.

The company is investing 45 billion Danish crowns ($6.67 billion) in capital expenditures in 2024, compared with 25 billion crowns in 2023, the spokesperson added.

All doses of Ozempic are currently available in the United States.

($1 = 6.7480 Danish crowns)

(Reporting by Maggie Fick; Editing by Tomasz Janowski)