Shortage of diabetes medication forces Georgians to wait months for refills

ATLANTA — A shortage of diabetes medications, like Ozempic, Trulicity and Mounjaro, has diabetic patients across the state running from one pharmacy to another.

“I switched from Walgreens to Publix, back and forth between those two, I’ve had it,” Charlotte Geiggar said.

Charlotte Geiggar told Channel 2 investigative reporter Ashli Lincoln she just received an Ozempic refill this week, after waiting since November.

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“Every time I will try to get the medication filled, we have a problem,” she said.

Manufacturers of the drugs say last year they were met with a surprising demand after the drugs gained popularity for weight loss benefits.

“And the company wasn’t prepared for the mass number of people that are willing to pay cash for it to lose weight,” said Dr. Irl Hirsch.

Dr. Hirsch is a professor at the University of Washington Medicine’s Diabetes Institute. He says while production has ramped up, the demand isn’t going away. Dr. Hirsch says people are paying thousands of dollars a month, and even traveling to Canada for the drug.

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“And now what’s happened, because of the Americans going to British Columbia, now they’re running out of it and they’re having the problem. So we have created an international problem here,” he said.

Ozempic says it has been working since October to increase the production. Trulicity reports that they will have supply back to normal by the end of March. Monujaro says all of its doses are back after a two-month shortage.

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