People with diabetes who take injectable medications like Trulicity and Ozempic have been scrambling to find their next dose.
Erie-area pharmacies, like others across the country, can’t get enough of the popular drugs, which are also used to lose weight. Five local drug stores contacted last Thursday were all out of at least some dosages of Trulicity, and a couple of pharmacies didn’t have any of the drug in stock.
“It’s been going on for the last six-to-eight months and it’s all of the injectable drugs: Ozempic, Trulicity, Mounjaro,” said Tim Zurn, a LECOM Health pharmacist and manager of Colonial Pharmacy. “For the first time I can remember, I’m telling patients to call around to other pharmacies.”
The shortages are so common that Dr. David Hutzel’s office has been bombarded with calls from patients who can’t get the drug at their local pharmacy and are asking where they can fill their prescription.
“It’s gotten to the point that my staff can’t jump through all these hoops,” said Hutzel, a physician with UPMC’s Greenfield Internal Medicine — West. “We end up printing the prescription and having the patient shop around.”