People searching for lower-priced GLP-1 weight loss drugs are facing a series of obstacles lately.
On Monday, a pharmaceutical company ended a direct sale deal offering Wegovy at a discount through the Hims & Hers telehealth company.
The collapse of the Novo Nordisk deal comes as less-expensive compounded versions of semaglutide — the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy — come off the market, leaving consumers in a frantic search for replacements.
A Northeastern pharmacy professor says people seeking weight loss drugs may be able to get help from patient financial assistance programs and alternative medications. But it appears the days when lower-priced GLP-1 compounds were manufactured on an industrial scale may be over.
Why the cheaper drugs disappeared
Manufactured by Novo Nordisk, Ozempic and Wegovy are once-a-week injectable medications.
Their active ingredient, semaglutide, belongs to a class of GLP-1 receptor agonists that work to reduce weight by mimicking a naturally occurring hormone that signals your body to feel full and slows digestion by increasing the time it takes for food to leave the body.
Compounding pharmacies were allowed to mix their formulations of semaglutide when demand for the ingredient outstripped supply in 2022.
