Pharma firms’ focus on weight-loss drugs could put insulin supply at risk, experts warn

GLP-1 products such as Ozempic and Mounjaro spread but many in poorer countries struggle to get basic diabetes treatment

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…