When Novo Nordisk launched weight loss drug Wegovy last year it recruited US rapper and actress Queen Latifah to front a publicity campaign aimed at tackling the stigma that often surrounds obesity treatments.
Fast-forward a year and there is little sign of public reluctance to embrace the drug, which a late-stage clinical trial showed produced average weight loss in patients of 15 per cent of their body weight. Instead, the Danish company has become a victim of its own success. Surging demand and manufacturing constraints have caused widespread shortages of Wegovy.
Scarcity of the drug, which has the generic name semaglutide and is an appetite suppressant, has forced Novo to temporarily halt marketing and rethink its manufacturing strategy. It has also provided an opportunity for Eli Lilly, Amgen and several biotech companies developing similar obesity-busting drugs to try to catch up in a market that analysts forecast could be worth $50bn a year by 2030.