Some eastern Ontario diabetes patients facing delays in accessing Ozempic

Some eastern Ontario users of Ozempic have been unable to get access to the drug for treating their diabetes. The medication has also gained popularity for its effectiveness in weight loss, resulting in an increased demand.

Harold Jordan, 80, used Ozempic for his diabetes.

"If I don’t have my medication, well, then my sugar goes sky high," Jordan says.

He has now missed two of his doses because the drug wasn’t available.

"The pharmacy says that they’re trying to order it every day, and so far they haven’t gotten any," Judy Jordan says.

The drug is approved to treat adult patients with Type 2 diabetes. However, the drug is also being used off-label for weight management, which is resulting in a surge of people using it.

"And because of that, we’ve a seen much larger than anticipated increase in the prescribing of the drug and that is what’s caused the shortage," says Jen Belcher with the Ontario Pharmacists Association.

Belcher says after the recent shortages that began in late August, supply is anticipated to be resolved imminently.

"The manufacturer has committed to increasing their capacity to produce this product."

In the short-term, some pharmacies have provided alternatives to patients, including doubling up on a smaller dosage of Ozempic.

"What we’ve been doing primarily is using the lower-dose pen. So, the pens come in a 1 mg pen or a  0.5 mg pen, so that may mean the patient has to use more injections to get the same dose," Belcher said.

On Wednesday, after waiting for nearly two weeks, Harold Jordan was able to get a month's worth of the lower dosage pens of Ozempic.  He plans to return to 1 mg pens when they become available.