Ozempic and similar drugs for Type 2 diabetes and weight loss are in such high demand that the drugmakers have had a hard time keeping up. So compounding pharmacies stepped in to fill the gap, making their own versions of the drugs for more than two years. The compounded versions are especially popular as cheaper alternatives for people whose insurance doesn't cover them .
But now the brand name manufacturers are pushing the compounding pharmacies to stop. Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly are moving to end compounding of their medicines for good. They say they are no longer in shortage (a necessary condition for legal compounding in this case), and that they are too difficult to compound anyway.
The compounding industry disagrees. As the battle over who gets what share of the multi-billion dollar obesity drug market continues, some patients are left wondering how they're going to get their next injections — and from whom. What's underlying the fight, says Robin Feldman , a law professor at the University of California, is "the inordinate amount of money that is changing hands for the new weight-loss drugs, their incredible efficacy, the runaway demand.
It's all about the dollars." "When someone tells you, 'it's not the money, it's the principles,' [it's the] the money," she says. The shortage rule To understand why compounding pharmacists can make copies of semaglutide (the key ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy) and tirzepatide (the key ingredient in Mounjaro and Zepbound), you ha.
