Novo Nordisk continues to see strong interest in our prescription-only medicine Wegovy® for chronic weight management. We take our responsibility to meet the needs of people living with obesity and the healthcare professionals who treat them very seriously.
We have been continuously monitoring prescribing trends to assess overall U.S. demand for Wegovy® which continues to increase at a substantial rate. Today we are serving hundreds of thousands of US patients with Wegovy®. However, trends indicate that demand for Wegovy® in the U.S. will exceed our current supply capacity, which has the following implications:
To avoid stimulating further demand, we’re pausing some key Wegovy® promotional efforts. In addition, we will closely manage Wegovy® shipments to wholesalers in the U.S. with a plan to create a more steady level of inventory, despite supply constraints.
We understand how frustrating this situation is for the communities we serve and appreciate everyone’s patience as we continue to navigate significant demand for Wegovy®. Please know that our commitment to the obesity community is a long-term one and we are investing significantly to build capacity to meet this increasing demand. Looking ahead, a second contract manufacturing organization (CMO) recently initiated production to help increase Wegovy® supply and we have solid plans in place for continuously increasing Wegovy® capacity in the coming years.
We remain committed to driving meaningful change for people living with obesity and supporting healthcare providers partnering on their care. As part of this commitment, we want to ensure that Wegovy® is used properly and responsibly for the treatment of obesity in consult with a healthcare professional.
At Novo Nordisk, patient safety is paramount. We want to reinforce that Wegovy® is the only semaglutide-based Novo Nordisk medicine that is approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for chronic weight management in adults with obesity or overweight with weight-related medical problems. This prescription-only medicine should be prescribed in direct consultation with, and under the supervision of, a licensed healthcare professional. We support these medicines being prescribed to patients who meet the FDA-approved criteria and promote our medicines for those appropriate patients. Our other semaglutide-based products, Ozempic® (semaglutide) injection 0.5 mg, 1 mg, or 2 mg and Rybelsus® (semaglutide) tablets 7 mg or 14 mg, which are indicated for adults with type 2 diabetes, have unique safety and efficacy profiles and are not FDA-approved for chronic weight management. Please see important product information, including the Prescribing Information for our semaglutide products at semaglutide.com.
Wegovy® is a prescription medication for people living with obesity, a serious and chronic disease. It has undergone a clinically rigorous FDA regulatory approval process. Novo Nordisk is the only manufacturer of the FDA-approved Wegovy®. We cannot validate the safety or effectiveness of products claiming to contain semaglutide that are not one of our own branded products. Click here to read more about our commitment to the responsible use of our medicines containing semaglutide, including our actions to address this.
The demand for Wegovy® reinforces the unmet need and has strengthened our promise to not only develop innovative medicines but to partner, raise awareness and advocate to change how obesity is understood, diagnosed, and treated.
If you are interested in Wegovy®, please discuss with your healthcare provider (HCP) if it might be right for you.
To see if Wegovy® is covered by your insurance visit Wegovy.com or contact your insurance provider.
We’ve included some frequently-asked questions below and are here to help if you need additional support at 1-833-4-WEGOVY (1-833-493-4689) from 9 AM to 6 PM Eastern Monday through Friday – and select option 0 for more support and Wegovy.com.
The demand for Wegovy® in the U.S. has continued to increase at a substantial rate. Today we are serving hundreds of thousands of U.S. patients with Wegovy®. However, trends indicate that demand for Wegovy® will exceed our current supply capacity.
This means that while we are actively producing and shipping all dose strengths of Wegovy® and have taken significant measures to increase capacity, we will only be able to supply limited quantities of 0.25 mg, 0.5 mg and 1 mg dose strengths to wholesalers for distribution to retail pharmacies, which will not meet anticipated patient demand. We anticipate that many patients will have difficulty filling Wegovy® prescriptions at these doses through September.
We do not currently anticipate supply interruptions of the 1.7 mg and 2.4 mg dose strengths of Wegovy®.
We will continue to assess this. Today we are serving hundreds of thousands of U.S. patients with Wegovy®. However, trends indicate that demand will exceed our current supply capacity.
This means that while we are actively producing and shipping all dose strengths of Wegovy® and have taken significant measures to increase capacity, we will only be able to supply limited quantities of 0.25 mg, 0.5 mg and 1 mg dose strengths to wholesalers for distribution to retail pharmacies which will not meet anticipated patient demand. We anticipate that many people will have difficulty filling Wegovy® prescriptions at these doses through September.
We do not currently anticipate supply interruptions of the 1.7 mg and 2.4 mg dose strengths of Wegovy®.
If you are interested in discussing Wegovy®, a prescription-only medicine, with your healthcare provider, we recommend you take into consideration the limited supply of the 0.25 mg, 0.5 mg and 1 mg dose strengths of Wegovy® as part of shared decision-making about initiating therapy, recognizing the possibility of disruption in care.
We recommend that you contact your pharmacy about refills at least 1-2 weeks earlier than normal. This applies to online and walk-in pharmacies. If you are unable to obtain your specific dose strength, we encourage you to try other local pharmacies for availability. If that is not successful, speak with your healthcare provider about your treatment plan to determine the best course of action and options available. Healthcare providers know their patients’ past and current medical history and are most equipped to make clinical recommendations.
We also recommend that healthcare providers take into consideration the limited supply of the 0.25 mg, 0.5 mg and 1 mg dose strengths of Wegovy® as part of their decision-making when initiating new patients on therapy, recognizing the possibility of disruption in care.
Although Wegovy® and Ozempic® both contain semaglutide, they are different products with different indications, dosages, prescribing information and titration schedules, as approved by the FDA. Each medication has a unique safety and efficacy profile which is detailed in its respective product label. The products are not interchangeable. We support our medicines being prescribed to patients who meet the indicated criteria and only promote the FDA-approved indications of our medicines for appropriate patients. Click here to read more about our commitment to the responsible use of our medicines.
We are aware that there are companies claiming to have availability of Wegovy® or semaglutide. We want consumers and healthcare providers to know and be very clear that Novo Nordisk does not sell Wegovy®, or its active ingredient, semaglutide, for the purposes of compounding with other products. Novo Nordisk has not conducted studies to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Wegovy® when compounded with other ingredients. Novo Nordisk is the only company that has FDA approval to market Wegovy® and we supply it in a disposable single-use pen available by prescription only.
Novo Nordisk is not supplying any telehealth companies with Wegovy®. Any healthcare providers prescribing Wegovy® through telehealth companies will face the same challenges as all other healthcare providers and patients across the U.S.
We see the growing trend of weight-management telehealth providers, and have heard media reports that some telehealth providers are not providing sufficient clinical evaluations prior to prescribing semaglutide medicines, including Wegovy® and Ozempic®. Novo Nordisk medicines should only be prescribed after a close consultation between a licensed healthcare provider and a patient - considering the medication’s benefits and risks for that individual patient – and should only be taken under the supervision of a licensed healthcare provider.
We take our responsibility to meet the needs of people living with obesity very seriously and ensuring supply is available is a top priority.
A second contract manufacturing organization (CMO) recently initiated production to help increase Wegovy® supply and we have solid plans in place for continuously increasing Wegovy® capacity in the coming years. We remain committed to driving meaningful change for people living with obesity and supporting healthcare providers partnering on their care.
The demand for Wegovy® reinforces the unmet need and has strengthened our promise to not only develop innovative medicines but to partner and advocate to change how obesity is understood, diagnosed and treated.
We primarily distribute our products to wholesalers, who then supply retail pharmacies nationwide. Which specific pharmacies or retailers get Wegovy® is determined by several factors outside of Novo Nordisk control, including wholesaler distribution and order fulfilment practice. However, we anticipate wholesalers will supply to pharmacies in areas with higher prescription volume.
We recommend that you contact your pharmacy about refills at least 1-2 weeks earlier than normal. This applies to online and walk-in pharmacies. If you are unable to obtain your specific dose strength, we encourage you to try other local pharmacies for availability.
If that is not successful, you should speak with your healthcare provider about your treatment plan to determine the best course of action and options available. Healthcare providers know your past and current medical history and are most equipped to make clinical recommendations.
We also recommend that healthcare providers take into consideration the limited supply of the 0.25 mg, 0.5 mg and 1 mg dose strengths of Wegovy® as part of their decision-making when initiating new patients on therapy, recognizing the possibility of disruption in care.
We cannot control which specific patients receive our prescription-only medicines. What we can do is ensure that we reinforce who our medicines are intended to treat based on their clinical trials and FDA-approved indications in support of responsible use of these medicines. We take that responsibility seriously and that is reflected in our communication and promotional efforts. Learn more here.
Today we are serving hundreds of thousands of US patients with Wegovy®. While we are actively producing and shipping all dose strengths of Wegovy® and have taken significant measures to increase capacity, we will only be able to supply limited quantities of 0.25 mg, 0.5 mg, and 1 mg dose strengths to wholesalers for distribution to retail pharmacies which will not meet anticipated patient demand. We anticipate that many patients will have difficulty filling Wegovy® prescriptions at these doses through September.
We do not currently anticipate supply interruptions of the 1.7 mg
and 2.4 mg dose strengths of Wegovy®.
We recommend you speak with your healthcare provider about your treatment plan to determine the best course of action and options available. Healthcare providers know patients’ past and current medical history and are most equipped to make clinical recommendations.
At this time, we do not recommend Saxenda® as a viable alternate treatment, as we cannot guarantee supply to match the continuous rising demand for weight management medications.
We are aware that several compounding pharmacies, weight loss clinics, and medical spas are claiming to sell or offer compounded semaglutide products. Novo Nordisk is actively monitoring and taking action against entities that are engaging in the unlawful sale of compounded semaglutide, disseminating false advertising, and infringing its trademarks. Novo Nordisk is the only company in the U.S. with FDA-approved products containing semaglutide, identified under the trade names Wegovy®, Ozempic®, and Rybelsus®. No FDA-approved generic versions of semaglutide currently exist. Compounded products do not have the same safety, quality, and effectiveness assurances as our FDA-approved drugs, and may expose patients to health risks.
Novo Nordisk cannot validate the safety or effectiveness of products claiming to contain semaglutide that are not one of our own branded products. We are actively working to ensure broad public awareness regarding the difference between our FDA-approved products and other medicines being labeled as “semaglutide” and sold by such entities. Further, the practice of selling compounded semaglutide medicines under Novo Nordisk trade names has the potential to create consumer confusion and deception, and we will not tolerate the unauthorized and inappropriate usage of our brand trademarks by third parties.
WEGOVY® (semaglutide) injection 2.4 mg is an injectable prescription medicine that may help adults and children aged ≥12 years with obesity (BMI ≥30 for adults, BMI ≥ 95th percentile for age and sex for children), or some adults with excess weight (BMI ≥27) (overweight) who also have weight-related medical problems to help them lose weight and keep it off. Wegovy® should be used with a reduced calorie meal plan and increased physical activity
Tell your healthcare provider about all the medicines you take, including prescription and over-the-counter medicines, vitamins, and herbal supplements. Wegovy® may affect the way some medicines work and some medicines may affect the way Wegovy® works. Tell your healthcare provider if you are taking other medicines to treat diabetes, including sulfonylureas or insulin. Wegovy® slows stomach emptying and can affect medicines that need to pass through the stomach quickly.
The most common side effects of Wegovy® may include: nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, constipation, stomach (abdomen) pain, headache, tiredness (fatigue), upset stomach, dizziness, feeling bloated, belching, gas, stomach flu, heartburn, and runny nose or sore throat.
If you have additional comments or would like to provide feedback on what other information would be helpful to you, please contact our Customer Care Center at 1-800-727-6500 or submit online.