Ro launches GLP-1 supply tracker to help patients cope with shortages | Wilnesh News

telemedicine company Luo Launched on Wednesday New tracker Helping patients find a popular weight loss and diabetes drug called GLP-1 amid a shortage of such drugs in the U.S.

A supply tracker may be a valuable tool for many Americans scrambling to obtain GLP-1, e.g. Novo Nordiskthe weight-loss injection Wegovy and the diabetes drug Ozempic. Demand for these drugs has far outstripped supply over the past year, forcing Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly and CompanyAs the dominant player in the market, it invests heavily to expand production scale.

The tracker is designed to make GLP-1 supply information more transparent and more accessible to everyone, regardless of whether they participate in any of Ro’s programs. The company is one of several digital health companies that offer weight loss programs that provide users with GLP-1 prescriptions and access to coaching and other services.

The tracker is an interactive tool that provides people with real-time supply information by drug, dose size and pharmacy location. Existing drug shortage databases include one Regulated by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, localized data is generally not shared.

“We’re trying to make it as easy as possible for patients and providers to understand what’s available and what’s not,” Ro co-founder and CEO Zachariah Reitano told CNBC. And do it in the fastest way possible.

He added that the GLP-1 shortage feels like a “national health care crisis.”

“I don’t think people fully appreciate that there is a critical shortage of life-saving and life-changing drugs that could benefit more than 100 million people in the United States, and that every month patients are in trouble,” Reitano said.

Reitano said Ro chose to make the tool free for anyone to use because a “basic inventory management system” for GLP-1 does not exist, making it a significant contribution to the broader community that relies on these drugs. He added that opening the tracker to everyone also makes it more likely that Ro patients and people not enrolled in the company’s program will receive GLP-1.

Anyone, including doctors, can submit updates to Ro’s tracker by filling out the following information: Report Information about the availability or shortage of GLP-1 at specific pharmacies in their area. Users can choose to automatically report this information to FDA.

Ro will update the tracker with its own supply data, which is generated when the company’s patients record that they have successfully collected their medication at the pharmacy. Ro will also update the tracker with the latest information from the FDA, according to the company.

To ensure that there is indeed a shortage of drugs, Reitano said, the tracker takes into account the speed, location and quantity of submissions. For example, a report within two months may not impact the tracker.

Ro has been building the GLP-1 tracker for about two months, Reitano said. He said the company has not yet worked directly with the FDA, but providing the agency with more immediate data could help update its shortage list as much as possible.

In turn, this means doctors will be able to make more informed choices about the best medicine to prescribe for their patients, Reitano explain

“If that list is out of date compared to reality, then you’re going to prescribe it under the assumption that patients have access to that list,” Reitano said. “They don’t, or they might be able to start but not be able to continue, and that leads to Their treatment was interrupted.”

Individuals can sign up to receive automated email alerts about when specific GLP-1 medications are available at a nearby pharmacy. The tracker also alerts patients to changes in GLP-1 supply in the FDA’s Drug Shortage Database.

The alerts include instructions asking pharmacies to transfer their prescriptions to another location that has stock. Any patient can also send a message to Ro’s care team to have a prescription transferred on their behalf.

Therefore, the company launched a program called “GLP-1” Ro body plan Early last year.

Ro can prescribe drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy, and it also offers a compounded version of GLP-1 if the brand version is in short supply. Compounded GLP-1 is a customized alternative to brand-name drugs designed to meet the needs of specific patients.

Since starting Project Body, Ro has become very familiar with the challenges that a lack of supply can bring. Due to drug shortages last year, the company temporarily stopped advertising the program and is offering refunds and credits to patients who can’t pick up their medications within 30 days of getting their prescriptions.

Reitano said the company made more than 50,000 calls between July and August last year in an attempt to transfer prescriptions to different pharmacies.

Reitano hopes the tracker will make it easier for patients and providers to find GLP-1 supplies and immediately notify the FDA of shortages, especially as demand for the drug grows.

But he said his “best hope” is that Ro’s supply tracker will become “useless” in three years as more GLP-1 supply comes to the market and shortages are alleviated.

“It’s better for us, it’s better for patients, it’s better for the health care system,” Reitano told CNBC.