After telehealth startups not too long ago misplaced the flexibility to promote precise copies of patented GLP-1 weight-loss medication, some corporations have begun turning to a special, much less efficient medicine that has been available on the market in the USA since 2010. Usually thought-about a precursor to blockbuster merchandise like Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Eli Lilly’s Zepbound, liraglutide is changing into the brand new darling of on-line clinics providing prescription weight reduction and diabetes meds—regardless of its relative outdated age.
Initially bought by Novo Nordisk below the model names Victroza and Saxenda, the drug has been obtainable in generic kind within the US since final yr. Like Ozempic, liraglutide is a GLP-1 agonist that mimics a naturally occurring hormone and works by suppressing starvation cues and regulating insulin ranges. Nevertheless it doesn’t have the identical title recognition or reputation because the newer GLP-1 medication for a quite simple cause: It would not work as nicely, could cause extra extreme unwanted side effects, and sufferers must inject it day by day fairly than weekly.
The FDA decided earlier this yr that patented medicines like Zepound and Ozempic had been now not in scarcity, ending provisions that allowed on-line clinics to promote off-brand, compounded variations of the medication. As clinics and producers wind down gross sales of these compounds, many on-line clinics and producers are embracing liraglutide. Main telehealth firm Hims added generic liraglutide to its lineup final month, becoming a member of over a dozen rivals already providing the product in compounded, generic, or name-brand types.
Giant compounding pharmacies, like Florida-based Olympia Prescription drugs, are already pivoting to producing the medicine, anticipating that demand will rise. “We’ve signed some fairly massive contracts for liraglutide,” says chief monetary officer Joshua Fritzler. “We will deal with it form of the identical approach we handled semaglutide and tirzepatide,” the energetic elements in Ozempic and Zepbound. Fritzler says Olympia plans to start ramping up manufacturing this summer time.
GLP-1 medicines like Ozempic and Zepbound have been heralded for his or her unparalleled success in treating weight problems and sort 2 diabetes. Researchers imagine in addition they have the potential to assist sufferers affected by all kinds of different circumstances, from dependancy to Parkinson’s. After demand for GLP-1s exploded lately, the FDA declared that among the name-brand variations had been formally in scarcity. That meant medical doctors might legally prescribe cheaper “compounded” variations of semaglutide and tirzepatide with the identical energetic elements because the originals.
Compounding pharmacies and telehealth startups flourished promoting these various GLP-1 merchandise on-line, attracting tens of millions of shoppers who couldn’t afford or had been unwilling to pay increased costs for the name-brand medicines, that are regularly not coated by insurance coverage. Now, the shortages for each these meds have ended. The FDA’s grace interval for producers to cease producing and promoting compounded tirzepatide is over, and the closing date for semaglutide is Might 22. Liraglutide, although, has been in scarcity since April 2023, so the compounders are free to maintain making it.
Some telehealth firms are persevering with to supply compounded medicines they are saying aren’t technically direct copies of patented medication as a result of they arrive in custom-made doses or with added nutritional vitamins. Eli Lilly has already sued a few of them, alleging that these variations are unlawful. Different telehealth corporations and compounders are enjoying it protected, ceasing gross sales altogether. (Olympia, for instance, is stopping manufacturing of semaglutide.)
