Newly Approved Weight-Loss Drug Is Selling So Fast That Many People Can’t Get It

A just lately FDA-approved weight reduction drug heralded as “game-changing” by some researchers is promoting like hotcakes. On Wednesday, Novo Nordisk introduced an unexpectedly robust third quarter, fueled by the discharge of its weight problems drug Wegovy within the U.S. earlier this summer season. The drug’s recognition has made it exhausting to get for some potential sufferers, nonetheless, since there’s an ongoing provide scarcity of it—a scarcity that most likely received’t clear up till early subsequent yr.

According to the Associated Press, the Danish pharmaceutical firm reported that its third-quarter gross sales grew by 15% relative to final yr. The firm was clear that Wegovy performed an enormous half in that development, together with gross sales of its sort 2 diabetes medication. “In the US, the initial demand for Wegovy has significantly exceeded our expectations, underscoring the high unmet need for people living with obesity,” stated Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen, Novo Nordrisk president and CEO, within the firm’s announcement of its earnings.

In medical trials, Wegovy reduced the common physique weight of individuals dwelling with weight problems by round 15% in a yr’s time, when in comparison with placebo. That’s a level of weight reduction that hasn’t been seen with older anti-obesity medication, and solely the simplest (and everlasting) bariatric surgical procedures are thought to supply better weight reduction. The lively ingredient in Wegovy, known as semaglutide, is similar present in its current diabetes medication Ozempic and Rybelsus. Semaglutide is an artificial model of GLP-1, a hormone essential to our regulation of starvation and metabolism; the synthesized model can keep in our system longer than native GLP-1. Both Wegovy and Ozempic are taken through a weekly subcutaneous injection, although Wegovy makes use of a better dose of semaglutide.

Wegovy’s trial outcomes have been sufficient to persuade the FDA to approve the drug this June, making it the primary new weight problems drug in virtually a decade. Many researchers have been vocal about their hopes that Wegovy could usher in a brand new period of weight problems drugs. Trials of different GLP-1 and comparable hormonal medication are ongoing, a few of which have proven much more pronounced weight reduction outcomes. At the identical time, some researchers and advocates have been much less enthused, arguing that weight problems shouldn’t be medicalized as a illness and that these medication may pose unknown long-term dangers, together with unhealthy cycles of weight reduction and acquire. One research by Novo Nordisk has proven that individuals who cease taking Wegovy after a couple of months are likely to regain a lot of their misplaced weight inside a yr.

The drug isn’t with out its side-effects, both, which embrace gastrointestinal signs like nausea, constipation, and diarrhea. In clinical trials, about 6.8% of sufferers stopped utilizing the drug on account of these opposed occasions. And even some sufferers publicly supportive of semaglutide later stopped taking it as a result of signs they skilled as their dose bought larger. The drug, like all present GLP-1 medication, carries a warning in regards to the potential elevated threat of a uncommon type of thyroid most cancers, and people with a household historical past of the most cancers are explicitly suggested towards utilizing it.

“My question would be: Does this drug—does it actually make people healthier? And I don’t think we have an answer to that.” Harriet Brown, an creator and journalist who has written in regards to the science of weight reduction, instructed Gizmodo earlier this yr quickly after the debut of Wegovy.

One factor that’s clear is that the demand for Wegovy has outstripped its provide. Novo Nordisk has admitted that it will not be capable of sustain, including that it will possible take till early 2022 for the availability to stabilize and that some sufferers “are experiencing an approximate one month or longer delay in filling prescriptions for Wegovy.” Another downside has been the shortage of constant insurance coverage protection for the drug, which might value as a lot as $1,600 monthly. Public payers equivalent to Medicare is not going to cowl the drug, as a result of a current rule regarding weight reduction remedies, and just a few non-public insurers have explicitly stated that they’ll cowl it. In response, the corporate has been providing six-month waivers to some insured sufferers that may cap the drug’s out-of-pocket prices at $25 a month, although the long-term image of protection remains to be in flux.

Despite among the uncertainty surrounding Wegovy, the corporate goes all in. Last month, it launched an advert marketing campaign starring Queen Latifah that was ostensibly framed as a approach to increase consciousness of weight problems remedies, forward of a extra direct marketing campaign for Wegovy scheduled for early subsequent yr. Novo Nordisk has additionally formed a partnership with CVS Health to debut a “personalized nutrition coaching program” at numerous CVS areas for many who have been prescribed an weight problems therapy.