Novo Nordisk Asks FDA to Ban Compounded Copycat Weight-Loss Drugs

Inclusion on the FDA’s Demonstrable Difficulties for Compounding (DDC) list means compounders are not allowed to make the drug.

The logo of Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk is pictured at their headquarters in Bagsvaerd outside of Copenhagen, Denmark, on Feb. 1, 2017. Liselotte Sabroe/Ritzau Scanpix/AFP via Getty Images

Danish pharma giant Novo Nordisk has asked the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to stop compounding pharmacies from manufacturing versions of its weight-loss and diabetes drugs, claiming the main compound is too complex to replicate safely.

In the Oct. 22 request, Novo Nordisk asked the FDA to include semaglutide on its Demonstrable Difficulties for Compounding (DDC) lists. Semaglutide is the active ingredient in the company’s weight loss drug Wegovy and diabetes treatment Ozempic. There has been a shortage of both drugs in the United States for most of this year.