In Russia there is a shortage of the most popular analogue of Ozempic for the treatment of diabetes.

For example, until the afternoon of October 16 in Rigla, Semavik was available for pickup only in three pharmacies in Moscow, three in Krasnodar, 68 in St. Petersburg, and in Novosibirsk the drug was not available at all, the publication reported. Riegle did not comment on his request.

“Semavik” was also not in Moscow, the Moscow region, St. Petersburg, Anapa and other cities in “Sber Eapteka”, RBC found out. The company confirmed to the publication the lack of medicines, but did not mention the reasons for the shortage or possible delivery dates.

As of October 15, in Moscow, out of 2.8 thousand pharmacies connected to the Megapteka service, Semavik was only in 55 locations, in Voronezh – in 27 out of 478, in Nizhny Novgorod – in 26 out of 497, and in Sochi – in none of all 87, the publication writes, citing data from Megapharmacy.

The shortage of the drug may be due to increased demand, Geropharm told RBC. They added that in the event of “sudden fluctuations in demand”, the period for replenishing stocks in pharmacies varies from several days to a week, depending on the remoteness of the region.

• The original Ozempic is produced by the Danish Novo Nordisk; It stopped supplying the drug to Russia in March 2023 amid Western sanctions.

• In October 2024, RBC, citing data from the analytical company DSM Group, reported that between January and August Russians spent 4.9 billion rubles on analogues of this drug.