A shift toward lucrative GLP-1 weight-loss medications is leading drugmakers to deprioritize essential treatments like insulin, which are vital for patients with type 1 and advanced type 2 diabetes. The Access to Medicine Foundation warned of severe fallout if major producers like Sanofi, Eli Lilly, or Novo Nordisk abandon the insulin sector, noting that Novo Nordisk has already planned to discontinue certain older diabetes products such as insulin pens. Furthermore, of the 25 new medications currently in development for this therapeutic area, only 10 target type 1 diabetes.
Key points
Disproportionate profit margins for obesity therapies incentivize pharmaceutical firms to…: Disproportionate profit margins for obesity therapies incentivize pharmaceutical firms to divert critical production away from traditional insulin.
Patients in developing nations face heightened risks because newer GLP-1 treatments remai…: Patients in developing nations face heightened risks because newer GLP-1 treatments remain unaffordable and lack local registration.
Industry departures from basic insulin manufacturing could leave hundreds of millions of…: Industry departures from basic insulin manufacturing could leave hundreds of millions of vulnerable diabetes patients without essential daily medicine.
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The gold rush into GLP-1 weight-loss drugs risks diverting pharmaceutical firms’ attention away from diabetes treatments such as insulin, the head of the Access to Medicine Foundation has warned.
GLP-1 blockbuster medications such as Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro have revolutionised obesity and diabetes treatment but there has been a greater focus by companies on weight loss, according to a report from the Netherlands-based non-profit group.
The group warned that many people cannot even get hold of basic insulin, critical for people with type 1 diabetes, and many countries are struggling to access GLP-1 medications at all – as the explosion in their popularity continues since the weight-loss jab Wegovy launched in 2021.
Diabetes affects an estimated 589 million adults globally, 81% of whom live in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) such as Pakistan, Egypt and Jordan.
“A lot of the GLP-1 drugs are just starting to enter these LMIC markets for obesity,” said Jay Iyer, the foundation’s chief executive, adding: “You have a lot of attention on GLP-1s, but a lot of it is directed towards the…
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