(Reuters) – Four doses of Eli Lilly’s diabetes drug Mounjaro would remain in tight supply through 2024 due to soaring demand, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s website showed.
The regulator noted limited availability of 7.5, 10, 12.5, and 15 milligram doses through April, while lower doses were listed as “available”. The FDA had previously said that three doses would have limited availability through early March.
The injection, which is chemically known as tirzepatide, gained the FDA’s approval for weight loss under the brand name Zepbound in the United States last year.
Bloomberg News reported last Thursday that pharmacies such as Rite Aid and Amazon Pharmacy were facing a short supply of Zepbound. However, the U.S. health regulator does not currently consider the obesity shot to be in shortage.
Lilly said last week it continues to manufacture and ship all doses of Zepbound, but due to the unprecedented demand for these medicines, some patients could experience difficulty when trying to fill their prescription at their pharmacy.
Soaring demand for a class of highly effective diabetes and obesity drugs known as GLP-1 agonists, which suppress appetite and promote a feeling of fullness, has led to supply constraints for drugmakers such as Lilly and Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk.
Lilly’s Mounjaro was approved in 2022 for patients with type-2 diabetes to control their blood sugar levels.
(Reporting by Sriparna Roy in Bengaluru and Patrick Wingrove in New York; Editing by Tasim Zahid and Shailesh Kuber)
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