A joint study between Yale University, King’s College Hospital in London and Doctors Without Borders found a single shot could be made for just 89 cents.
Engineered Biologics involve having to make special cell cultures off engineered specimens so it's a research forward cost. The actual production is cheap once the cultures are made.
I think if you look deep enough you'll find public funding in a lot of these projects like with Humira, which was funded by the UK Government and is now absurdly expensive as fuck
I personally know 3 people - who are not diabetic - who are on this drug to lose weight. It's anecdotal evidence for sure, but it makes me think that people are seeing this as a miracle weight loss drug. Which is probably causing the shortages.
The drug is definitely over prescribed I am sure, but surely using it as preventative treatment before the person becomes diabetic is long term better than waiting for them to become diabetic, right?
I don't really know anything about the drug but I know it has helped some people who really need it. It is a shame it is being locked behind patents and shortages.
It's a pretty simple peptide, there's multiple companies in China that make grey market versions.
The scarcity seems to come from the government enforced monopoly, only a single company is officially allowed to make it and they don't have enough machines, I imagine getting more machines takes time.
Governments could issue compulsory licences for shortages like this, but they never do.