Novo Just Admitted This About Compounded Semaglutide

The Outsourcing Facilities Association (OFA) just surfaced something Novo Nordisk probably hoped would slide under the radar.

In a recent filing to the U.S. Department of Commerce as part of the Section 232 national security tariff investigation, Novo disclosed that as of April 15, 2025, at least 373.8 kilograms of semaglutide API had been imported into the United States for use in compounding since the start of fiscal year 2024.

That’s enough for approximately 1.5 billion starting doses of semaglutide injection.

Let that number sink in. This isn’t some niche workaround. This is scale. This is sustained demand. And compounding pharmacies have clearly stepped in to fill a gap that Novo simply could not do alone.

So the next question writes itself. If compounded semaglutide is as dangerous as Novo has spent millions to tell us it is, where’s the disaster? Where are the mass ER visits, the mass recalls, the flood of FDA alerts? If hundreds of millions of doses are already circulating and there’s no mountain of evidence pointing to harm, then what exactly are we protecting the public from?

It’s not safety. It’s not quality. It’s control.

Novo wants to lock down every part of the process. From molecule to injection, they want the entire supply chain under their roof. Even though they cannot meet the demand, and even though the United States has protections in place to make sure that patients retain access to medication. Now they’re trying to frame this as a national security issue to get there. But the real threat to public health isn’t coming from these compounding facilities. It’s coming from drug shortages, blocked access, and a healthcare system that shuts people out unless they can navigate six levels of insurance hurdles or pay over fork over a good portion of their monthly income to pay out-of-pocket.

If Novo wants to argue they can meet this demand safely and consistently, then by all means, let’s see it. But don’t point fingers at compounders for doing the work while pretending it’s a public health crisis.

Massive thanks to the OFA for catching this and putting it front and center. Novo’s own data just blew a hole in their narrative. And if this really is about keeping patients safe, then we need to stop pretending access is the enemy.