This website will continue to be updated as new information becomes available.
We are happy to share that the status for each dose of Wegovy® is now reflected on the FDA shortage website as, “Available.”
This update is a result of our significant investment in capacity and ongoing communication with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Our intentional approach to gradually increase supply into the U.S. market is working and all dose strengths of Wegovy® are being shipped regularly to wholesalers.
We will continue to prioritize continuity of care for patients, closely monitoring market dynamics and prescribing trends along the way. It is important to note that even when a medication is available, patients may not always be able to immediately fill their prescription at a particular pharmacy. Patients may experience variability at a particular pharmacy location regardless of whether a drug is in shortage.
As a leader and pioneer in the discovery of GLP-1 RA obesity treatments for decades, our commitment to this community is unwavering. People living with obesity can count on Novo Nordisk to partner, educate, and advocate to change how this disease is understood, diagnosed, and treated.
Click here for an overview of how Wegovy® is made, manufactured, and shipped.
Important Guidance: Filling Your Wegovy® Prescription
If that is not successful, speak with your healthcare professional about your treatment plan to determine the best course of action and options available. Healthcare professionals know their patients' past and current medical history and are best equipped to make clinical recommendations.
At this time, we do not recommend switching to Saxenda® (liraglutide) injection 3 mg as a viable alternate treatment, as we cannot guarantee supply to match the continuous rising demand for weight-management medications.
We remain committed to driving meaningful change for people living with obesity and supporting healthcare professionals 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 consultation with a licensed healthcare professional.
At Novo Nordisk, patient safety is paramount. We want to reinforce that Wegovy® is the only semaglutide-containing Novo Nordisk medication 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 and for adults living with obesity and known heart disease. This prescription-only medicine is available in a disposable single-use pen and 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 information, including the Prescribing Information, for our semaglutide products and up to date information on the responsible use of our semaglutide products at semaglutide.com.
At Novo Nordisk, we are dedicated to addressing the unmet medical needs of people living with obesity worldwide. This commitment is underscored by our substantial increase in access, ensuring the broadest reach and impact of GLP-1 RAs across the globe. Since 2021, Novo Nordisk has successfully launched Wegovy® in more than ten countries with more approvals and launches expected in the future.
Increasing our manufacturing capacity is a key factor in our ability to produce more medicines and we continue to expand our global production capacity, which has been running 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
Since the beginning of 2023, Novo Nordisk has committed to spending over $30 billion on expanding our manufacturing capacity, including the expansion of our production facility in North Carolina in June 2024, to grow our ability to produce current and future injectable treatments for people with obesity and other serious chronic diseases. Moreover, we have agreed to acquire three Catalent production facilities and expect that the acquisition will be completed towards the end of 2024.
If you are interested in Wegovy®, please discuss with your healthcare professional (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 Time Monday through Friday – and select option 0 for more support and at Wegovy.com.
The status for each dose of Wegovy® is now reflected on the FDA shortage website as, “Available.”
We are running our manufacturing lines 24 hours a day, seven days a week, manufacturing more Wegovy® than ever before. Our intentional approach to gradually increase supply into the U.S. market is working and all of the dose strengths of Wegovy® are being shipped regularly to wholesalers.
We will continue to prioritize continuity of care for patients, closely monitoring market dynamics and prescribing trends along the way. It is important to note that even when a medication is available, patients may not always be able to immediately fill their prescription at a particular pharmacy. Patients may experience variability at a particular pharmacy location regardless of whether a drug is in shortage.
Increasing our manufacturing capacity is a key factor in our ability to produce more medicines and we continue to expand our global production capacity, which has been running 24 hours a day, seven days a week.
We understand how frustrating this is for the communities we serve and recognize how important it is for people currently using Wegovy® to continue their weight management journey. We recommend that those who experience challenges filling their prescriptions speak with a healthcare professional about the best approach to their treatment, so this does not halt their pursuit of obesity 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.
At this time, we do not recommend switching to Saxenda® as a viable alternate treatment, as we cannot guarantee supply to match the continuous rising demand for weight management medications.
Novo Nordisk is the only company with FDA-approved, prescription-only semaglutide medicines: Wegovy®, Ozempic®, and Rybelsus®. No other FDA-approved generic or alternative semaglutide medicines exist. We are deeply concerned about companies promoting and selling compounded, non-FDA approved knock-off versions of "semaglutide" and sources spreading misinformation about GLP-1 RAs to the public. These knock-off medicines are not approved or reviewed by the FDA for safety, quality, and effectiveness. Patients have reported harm after taking these products and there is substantial evidence that copycat “semaglutide” presents significant and serious safety and health risks.
In addition, the FDA shared safety information on compounded semaglutide on their website. For more information, click here: Medications Containing Semaglutide Marketed for Type 2 Diabetes or Weight Loss | FDA.
Novo Nordisk is taking robust and proactive measures to protect patients and warn them about the dangers of non-FDA approved knock-off versions of "semaglutide," including correcting misinformation, educating communities, taking legal action, conducting ongoing testing of samples and most recently, nominating semaglutide to the FDA’s lists of medicines that are too complex to compound (“DDC Lists”). Our ongoing efforts, detailed on semaglutide.com, are geared toward protecting patients and ensuring they have access to safe and effective FDA-approved medicines.
Novo Nordisk is not supplying any telehealth companies with Wegovy®. Any healthcare professionals prescribing Wegovy® through telehealth companies will face the same supply challenges as all other healthcare professionals 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 containing medicines, including Wegovy® and Ozempic®. Novo Nordisk medicines should only be prescribed after a close consultation between a licensed healthcare professional 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 professional.
Wegovy ® contains semaglutide and should not be used with other semaglutide-containing products or other GLP-1 receptor agonist medicines.
It is not known if Wegovy ® is safe and effective for use in children under 12 years of age.
Tell your healthcare professional 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 professional 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.