Diabetes patients unable to access drug Ozempic due to online weight loss craze

In recent months, there has been a spike in demand for Ozempic, or semaglutide, due to its weight loss benefits, which has led to shortages. Some doctors prescribe Ozempic off-label to treat obesity. Picture: Mario Tama/Getty

Some diabetes patients are being required to switch from the prescription drug Ozempic after an online weight loss craze resulted in shortages. 

Chemists in Cork are experiencing shortages of Ozempic, a drug approved by the HSE only to treat Type II diabetes, but which has been touted on TikTok as a weight loss wonder drug. 

The injectable drug regulates blood sugar levels and insulin and is approved for prescription to adults with Type II diabetes. Over 260,000 people in Ireland have Type II Diabetes, according to Diabetes Ireland.

However, it has been promoted by online influencers as a miracle diet drug, with videos documenting the weight-loss process using Ozempic gaining over hundreds of millions of views.

Manufacturer Novo Nordisk says the drug is only for adults with Type II diabetes, and “is not a weight-loss drug.” 

Horgan Pharmacy Group superintendent pharmacist Kieran O’Keeffe told the Irish Examinerthat the group could go months without Ozempic.

“It would come back into stock, and then it would go again. Sometimes we could go months without them,” he said.

Some of our patients have switched to other types of injections, instead of Ozempic. Some of them are happy with that, some of them are not.

“It’s not just our pharmacies that are seeing a shortage with this, it’s across the country really,” he said.

Minister for Health Stephen Donnelly linked the shortages of Ozempic to “the increased demand which has been attributed to the off-label use of the product to treat obesity.”

“Novo Nordisk, the marketing authorisation holder for Ozempic, has notified the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) of intermittent supply issues with Ozempic products due to increased global demand.

“The company anticipates that intermittent supply will continue into 2023. Novo Nordisk has implemented monthly allocations to help ensure continuity of supply and equitable distribution of Ozempic stock to Irish patients," Minister Donnelly said in the Dáil in March.

Ozempic is a brand name for a medication called semaglutide. It helps lower a patient’s blood sugar levels — though the patient leaflet advises this is only the case when your blood sugar levels are too high to begin with. The drug is used alongside diet and exercise.

The treatment is self-administered once a week and comes in a pen that contains four doses and costs around €150.

The drug has been heavily hyped by celebrities and influencers, including Elon Musk, who praised Ozempic in 2022, while other news outlets have reported that it played a role in Kim Kardashian’s recent weight loss.

Since then, a number of Irish users on TikTok have also claimed to have been prescribed the drug for weight loss by Irish GPs, despite the drug not being licenced for use as a weight loss medication in this country. In November 2022, the HSE had to write to every GP to advise them against prescribing the medication to patients without diabetes.