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Novo Nordisk faces Wegovy supply challenges in US

By Brian Buntz | December 18, 2021

Novo Nordisk (NYSE:NVO) announced that one of its contract manufacturers filling syringes for its Wegovy (semaglutide) pens in the U.S. market has temporarily ceased manufacturing following a report of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) problems.

The company projects it will be unable to meet U.S. demand for the drug in the first half of 2022 and that use of the drug will likely be constrained to a limited number of patients.

NVO shares dipped 8.21% to $107.45 on Dec. 17. In afternoon trading on Dec. 20, they fell another 3.33% to $103.88.

Novo Nordisk anticipates a resolution of the supply shortage by the second half of 2022.

The obesity drug Wegovy is a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist indicated for patients with a body mass index of 30 kg/m² or greater or 27 kg/m² or greater (overweight) with at least one weight-related comorbidity.

About The Author

Brian Buntz

The pharma and biotech editor of WTWH Media, Brian is a veteran journalist with more than 15 years of experience covering an array of life science topics, including clinical trials, drug discovery and development and medical devices. Before coming to WTWH, he served as content director focused on connected devices at Informa. In addition, Brian covered the medical device sector for 10 years at UBM. At Qmed, he overhauled the brand’s news coverage and helped to grow the site’s traffic volume dramatically. He had previously held managing editor roles on two of the company’s medical device technology publications. Connect with him on LinkedIn or email at bbuntz@wtwhmedia.com.