The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) updated its shortage list on Friday to confirm that all doses of Eli Lilly’s weight-loss drug Zepbound and diabetes medication Mounjaro are now available. Despite this, the FDA has yet to officially remove these drugs from its shortage list.
Mounjaro has been listed as in shortage since late 2022, while Zepbound joined the list in April 2024. The FDA continues to actively monitor the availability of these medications and is working with Lilly to ensure a stable supply of both safe and effective treatments.
The agency emphasized that, even though all doses are currently listed as available, the removal of a drug from the shortage list involves additional criteria, such as whether backorders have been fulfilled and if the supply meets current demand.
Eli Lilly’s spokesperson confirmed to Reuters that, “All doses of Mounjaro and Zepbound are listed as available on the FDA’s website, aligning with our earlier statements that supply would improve steadily towards the latter half of 2024.”
In response to surging demand, Lilly has invested billions to increase production of these drugs. Meanwhile, Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk, which produces competing drugs Ozempic and Wegovy, is also working to enhance its supply.
GLP-1 therapies, initially developed for diabetes, have demonstrated weight reduction of up to 20% in clinical trials. Analysts project that the market for these treatments could reach $150 billion by the early 2030s.
Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic, a diabetes drug, is currently fully available in the U.S., though three doses of Wegovy, a weight-loss medication, remain in limited supply.
