Out of stock of GLP-1 injections

Prescription change notices in hospitals and clinics

Lilly Trulicity followed by Novo Nordisk Xultophy sold out

As the news of GLP-1 (Glucagon-like peptide-1)-type diabetes treatments being used in clinical settings is reported one after another, concerns about this are growing.

 

According to the medical community on the 4th, Novo Nordisk Pharmaceutical Korea is currently informing the clinical site of the out-of-stock news of Xultophy, a GLP-1 series diabetes treatment.

 

Xultophy is a drug that controls blood sugar in adult type 2 diabetic patients and is a fixed ratio combination (FRC) of our company's basal insulin degludec and the GLP-1 analog liraglutide.

 

After approval by the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety in Korea in 2019, it was applied as a benefit in May 2021 and is being used in clinical settings.

 

However, due to the imbalance between demand and supply around the world, the aftermath also affected domestic clinical sites, resulting in out-of-stock products.

 

The problem is that Lilly Trulicity, which was widely used as a GLP-1 diabetes treatment in domestic clinical settings prior to Xultophy, is also out of stock.

 

In the clinical field, in the case of Trulicity out of stock, it is evaluated as the effect of concentration of production of Mounjaro, which is expected as a new drug for diabetes and obesity.

 

A professor of endocrinology at general hospital A, who requested anonymity, said, "I heard that Xultophy may be out of stock soon after Trulicity.

 

We inform patients in advance during treatment." The professor explained, "While checking the inventory status of the drugstore, some patients who were prescribed Trulicity are replacing it with DPP-4 inhibitor drugs." As a result, Soliqua is the only GLP-1 diabetes treatment that can be used as reimbursement in clinical settings.

 

In the case of Xultophy, it can be replaced with Soliqua, but in the case of Trulicity, it is not easy to replace it with the corresponding treatment, the clinical field explains.

 

Another professor of endocrinology at a tertiary general hospital who is an executive officer of the Korean Diabetes Association said, “There is no GLP-1 treatment that can be replaced with reimbursement for Trulicity, so the burden of non-reimbursement drugs will increase for patients.

 

"For patients who are prescribed both insulin and Trulicity, Soliqua or Xultophy can be substituted, but there is no direct substitute for Trulicity," he pointed out.

 

He said, “In this situation, as even Xultophy is out of stock, it seems that only Soliqua will be able to prescribe normally for the time being.” It is expected that the prescription of type 1 diabetes drugs will be disrupted." Meanwhile, current domestic and international diabetes treatment guidelines recommend preferentially considering GLP-1 injections, which have proven cardiovascular benefits, with SGLT-2 inhibitors in patients with atherosclerosis.

 

Due to the high weight loss effect of GLP-1 injection, it is considered first in obese patients.

 

Thanks to the guidelines, the domestic GLP-1 injection market, which is being applied as a benefit, is growing day by day.

 

According to UBIST, a drug research institute, Trulicity recorded 54.7 billion won in sales last year, expanding its influence in the domestic clinical field.

 

It recorded sales of 27.9 billion won in the first half of this year, continuing the upward trend of the previous year.

 

Similarly, Xultophy recorded sales of 7.9 billion won in the first half of this year following the prescription record of 11.1 billion won last year.

 

Soliqua is also showing sales growth, recording 6.3 billion won last year and 3.4 billion won in the first half of this year.