Demand for Ozempic has led to a shortage of the drug for people with diabetes in the United States. Amber Bracken/The Globe and Mail
British Columbia’s Ministry of Health is investigating why U.S. citizens fill nearly 10 percent of prescriptions in the province for a diabetes drug that is also in demand as a weight-loss treatment in part because of social media publicity.
Demand for Ozempic has led to a shortage of the drug for people with diabetes in the United States. A formulation of the same medication approved for weight loss remains unavailable in Canada, causing some patients to use Ozempic off-label.
Health Minister Adrian Dix told reporters at a news conference in Vancouver on Thursday that 83,188 prescriptions for Ozempic were filled across the province in the year ending Aug. 31, with Americans filling 22 times more doses of the drug than they normally do from other pharmaceutical products. The average share for other drugs is 0.4 percent.
“So there’s been a dramatic increase in demand, in part due to, let’s just call them, influencers talking about the weight loss drug,” said Mr. Dix, who noted at the event that he lives with type 1 diabetes. “I asked our teams of PharmaCare to review this to make sure we are protecting British Columbians and Canadians in terms of access to these drugs.”
Mr. Dix announced expanded coverage for Ozempic and another drug for diabetes patients, as well as two other drugs used for unrelated conditions.
The Globe and Mail reported last summer that the drug has become extremely popular in Canada among people looking to lose weight. An analysis last August by the Canadian Agency for Medicines and Health Technologies, an independent organization that advises governments on drug policy, found that in some provinces 36 to 74 percent of non-public drug plans claim Ozempic (prescriptions paid for through private or federal drug plans or out-of-pocket) are from people who probably don’t have type 2 diabetes.
Spending on Ozempic in Canada increased to $227 million in 2021 from $13.5 million in 2019, according to the study.
US media reported last month that the drug’s popularity among people flaunting their transformational weight loss on social media platforms — TikTok, for example, has more than 380 million videos tagging Ozempic — has led to a shortage of the drug for people with diabetes in United States.
The Danish multinational Novo Nordisk makes Ozempic, but it also makes Wegovy, the same drug, generically called semaglutide, but in a different dose, which is marketed specifically to treat obesity. Wegovy was approved by Health Canada in November 2021, but the company told The Globe last year that its “unprecedented demand” in the U.S. had led to a shortage.
On Thursday, Novo Nordisk spokeswoman Amy Snow said Wegovy is not yet available in Canada. “We don’t have an availability date yet,” she said.
Mr. Dix said his province has worked closely with drug manufacturers to ensure British Columbia has enough of Ozempic and the three other drugs for which he announced expanded coverage Thursday.
The Globe asked Mr. Dix if the lack of Wegovy has many people looking to Ozempic to lose weight. He did not answer the question, but said the clinical evidence supporting Wegovy had not been reviewed recently by his ministry and that the drug remains not covered by BC PharmaCare.
Still, he said, so far in British Columbia there has been no shortage of the drug, which is injected to help lower blood sugar levels.
To ensure type 2 diabetes patients maintain access to Ozempic, Mr. Dix announced expanded provincial coverage of the drug for more people as long as they meet specific government criteria, such as lower household incomes. Those who want the drug must first fail to control their blood sugar levels with another pharmaceutical, metformin, before their doctor can request coverage for Ozempic.
Before Thursday, they had to try two other drugs to secure a prescription, Mr Dix’s ministry said in a media release.
“We have a strict system in place to ensure that these people have access to the drug,” he said.
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