Global Ozempic shortage plagues Ontario diabetics and pharmacists – CBC
Some patients say they can’t find supply of drug, causing anxiety
Nov 14, 2023
Glen Patton says he’s not one to panic.
But a global shortage of the diabetes drug Ozempic has diabetics like him rattled — he says access to the medication could mean the difference between life and death for him.
Its shortage is something experts partly attribute to a trend of the drug being prescribed for the off-label purpose of weight loss.
Health Canada said it hasn’t approved Ozempic for weight loss.
“As a retired fireman … it takes a lot to shock me,” said Patton, a resident of South Lancaster just east of Cornwall, Ont.
“For me to walk into a pharmacy and ask for my prescription and be told, ‘Well, we don’t have it, we might not get it, you might want to start checking other pharmacies, and maybe by next March we’ll have it’ — is like, whoa, whoa, whoa.”
