Tirzepatide Update

There is a law allowing compounding pharmacies to step in to fill gaps when drugs are in short supply enabled thousands, or even millions, of people to access costly GLP-1 medicines.

Mounjaro® (tirzepatide) manufacturer Eli Lilly has lost out on millions

Last week, the FDA updated its database of drugs in shortage to remove tirzepatide, which had sat on that list – along with related semaglutide-based drugs, Ozempic and Wegovy – since 2022 amid unprecedented demand.

Compounding of medicines that are “essentially copies of a commercially available drug” is allowed by the FDA during a shortage, the agency says, but when a shortage is resolved, it’s allowed only if it’s not done “regularly or in inordinate amounts.”