![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/GettyImages-2092480827-768x432.jpg\")
\t\t<\/p>\nThe explosion of compounded GLP-1 offerings over the past two years is coming to an end, and many patients are left with no good options.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Blockbuster obesity and diabetes drugs \u2014 such as Wegovy, Ozempic, and Mounjaro \u2014 are no longer deemed by regulators to be in shortage, so compounding pharmacies and the telehealth companies they work with must stop offering copies of the treatments.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Now, hundreds of thousands of patients are stuck navigating uncharted waters as companies they entrusted with their health pursue strategies that may disrupt their care or present risks. Businesses are changing prescriptions, mixing in additives, or encouraging stockpiling of existing compounded products. Some have disappeared altogether.<\/p>\n
That leaves many patients back at square one, struggling to afford the brand-name medications, which carry list prices of about $1,000 a month. The pharma companies selling the branded drugs, Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, have started offering their treatments at lower prices of around $350 to $700 a month, but that\u2019s still unaffordable to many patients who were getting compounded drugs at about $200 a month.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is kind of like a lose-lose situation,\u201d said Reshma Ramachandran, an assistant professor and health services researcher at Yale University who treats many patients who have turned to compounded GLP-1s because they can\u2019t afford the branded drugs.<\/p>\n
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\t\t\t\t Pharma companies have been locked in legal battles against compounders, arguing the copies that they make are not safe. (The FDA has received more than 700 adverse event reports<\/a> tied to compounded GLP-1s, but it\u2019s not clear if the events were caused by the drugs.)\u00a0 The companies also see compounders as a threat to their obesity drug sales, which are estimated to balloon to $100 billion a year by 2030. Lilly\u2019s CEO Dave Ricks warned that the growth of compounding could create a \u201cbackdoor generic world.\u201d<\/p>\n STAT+ Exclusive Story<\/p>\n Already have an account? Log in<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\tThis article is exclusive to STAT+ subscribers Already have an account? Log in<\/a><\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tIndividual plans<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\t\tGroup plans<\/p>\n![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/statplus.svg.svg+xml\")
\n\t\t\t\tEli Lilly opens a new legal front in its battle against compounded GLP-1s<\/a><\/p>\n![\"STAT+\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/stat_plus_hero_new-2048x502.png\")
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\n\t\t\t\tUnlock this article \u2014 plus daily coverage and analysis of the pharma industry \u2014 by subscribing to STAT+.<\/p>\n