Ozempic: Soaring prices, shrinking stock of PH’s most wanted injection

For years now, a diabetes medication has been touted by social media content creators as a “ miracle drug” for weight loss. But what some perceive as a sweet shortcut to a better body image has yielded a bitter experience for others.

- By TRISHA MAE PALANAS and ALLIAH LYN REYES

Lexi Ortanez was on her usual pharmacy run when she faced the unexpected. A major local pharmacy chain was down to its last stock of Ozempic, an injectable drug prescribed to diabetics. Lexi did not think twice; she immediately bought the last pen, telling herself it was for the better—even if it meant cutting short her own Ozempic streak.

“Mas kailangan ng mom ko ‘yung pen versus sa akin (My mom needs the pen more than I do),” Ortanez said, noting that her 60-year-old mother has been taking the medication since 2023, longer than she has.

The older Ortanez was diagnosed with diabetes in 2015. Eight years later, Lexi was diagnosed with prediabetes alongside polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS)—formerly known as polycystic ovary syndrome.

For a month, the younger Ortanez was unable to take her weekly semaglutide injection—a medicine developed specifically to treat type 2 diabetes—due to domestic supply shortage driven by the surge in off-label demand.

In 2024, approximately 4.7 million Filipino adults were diabetic, accounting for more than 7.5 percent of the country’s total adult population, according to a report from the International Diabetes Federation.

Furthermore, the Philippine Statistics Authority reported that diabetes was the fifth leading cause of death in 2025, with 27,516 cases constituting 6.1 percent of the total recorded deaths from January to September of that year.

Struggling with multiple health conditions, Lexi found Ozempic to be a game-changer. Since her PMOS diagnosis—a condition closely linked to insulin resistance—sharp increases in her blood sugar had placed her on the brink of developing full-blown diabetes.

She shared that taking the injectable medication, prescribed by her endocrinologist (a medical doctor specializing in hormone-related conditions), successfully kept her sugar levels within a healthy range.