Drugmakers' GLP-1 push raises insulin supply risks in poorer markets

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GLP-1 drugs raise insulin risks

Highlights

Pharmaceutical companies are prioritizing high-margin GLP-1 drugs for obesity and type 2 diabetes, intensifying supply risks for essential insulin in low- and middle-income countries.
Novo Nordisk plans to phase out older diabetes products, including insulin pens, raising concerns over long-term insulin supply amid just 10 of 25 new drugs targeting type 1 diabetes.
Novartis leads the Access to Medicine Foundation's global health equity index, but industry profit incentives continue diverting investment from basic diabetes treatments in poorer nations.

Access report flags shift in industry priorities

As reported by The Guardian, citing the Access to Medicine Foundation, pharmaceutical companies are focusing heavily on GLP-1 medicines for obesity and type 2 diabetes while many patients still struggle to obtain essential insulin. The Netherlands-based non-profit says the commercial appeal of weight-loss drugs is intensifying pressure on access gaps, especially in low- and middle-income countries.

Jay Iyer, the foundation's chief executive, warns that attention is increasingly directed toward the obesity market rather than patients with type 1 diabetes, who depend on insulin to survive. He says there is a risk that any of the three major insulin suppliers, Sanofi, Eli Lilly or Novo Nordisk, could leave that market, a move he says would be disastrous for supply.

GLP-1 drugs were first developed to regulate blood sugar in type 2 diabetes, but their growing use in obesity has opened a much larger and more profitable market. Companies can charge significantly higher prices for those injections and pills than for older treatments such as insulin, while GLP-1 products remain unavailable or unaffordable in many poorer countries.

Supply pressures grow as demand expands

Diabetes affects an estimated 589 million adults worldwide, with 81% living in low- and middle-income countries including Pakistan, Egypt and Jordan. Yet many of those markets still lack reliable access not only to newer GLP-1 therapies but also to basic insulin, despite more than a century of insulin development.

The foundation's biennial report finds that most medicines now being developed in this area target type 2 diabetes, while only 10 of 25 focus on type 1 diabetes. Novo Nordisk has also announced plans to phase out some older diabetes products, including insulin pens, adding to concern about long-term supply choices.

The same ranking places Novartis at the top of its global health equity index, ahead of GSK and AstraZeneca, and notes broader progress in making access part of corporate strategy. Even so, the report suggests the industry's current profit incentives are pulling investment toward fast-growing obesity treatments rather than the steady, lower-margin medicines that many diabetes patients in poorer countries still need most.

Earlier, we discussed AstraZeneca insitro partnership to use AI in early-stage drug discovery for liver and heart diseases.

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