Pharma firms’ focus on weight-loss drugs could put insulin supply at risk, experts warn

The article draws on the Foundation’s research to highlight persistent gaps in access to insulin and the limited availability and affordability of GLP-1 medicines in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). It also explores the risk that pharmaceutical companies’ growing focus on the more lucrative obesity market could divert attention from older, essential treatments, including insulin, and threaten the continuity of supply for people with diabetes. The article notes that only 10 of the 25 diabetes products in the pipeline target type 1 diabetes. 

Jayasree K. Iyer, CEO at the Access to Medicine Foundation, is quoted, warning that companies could withdraw from the insulin market, with potentially serious consequences for people who depend on reliable supply: “A lot of the GLP-1 drugs are just starting to enter these LMIC markets for obesity. You have a lot of attention on GLP-1s, but a lot of it is directed towards the obesity market, and that’s not going to help people with type 1 diabetes who after 105 years of insulin development still do not have access to the drug. Companies are able to charge far higher prices and enjoy greater profit margins on weight loss injections and pills, compared with other medication such as insulin."