GLP-1 Supply and Access in Georgia: What Changed After the Shortages Ended

By Dr. Don Gates, MD, Founder of Scale Solutions

The major GLP-1 shortages are over. Semaglutide and tirzepatide are no longer on the FDA drug shortage list, and the brand-name products — Wegovy, Ozempic, Zepbound, and Mounjaro — are in normal commercial supply. If you searched for a shortage update, the honest answer is that the supply problem you were worried about has been solved.

What has replaced it is a different problem. Getting a GLP-1 medication in Georgia in 2026 is rarely about whether the drug exists. It is about what it costs, whether anything covers it, and — for patients who started on compounded product during the shortage years — what the changed rules mean for them.

Key Takeaways

• Verified August 19, 2026: the FDA drug shortage database lists no current shortage of semaglutide, tirzepatide, or orforglipron. Liraglutide injection remains listed as “Currently in Shortage.”
• The tirzepatide shortage was declared resolved December 19, 2024; semaglutide February 21, 2025.
• Large-scale compounding of these drugs was legally tied to the shortage. When the shortage ended, that basis narrowed. A May 1, 2026 FDA proposal would exclude semaglutide, tirzepatide, and liraglutide from the 503B bulks list — but it is still a proposal, with no final determination.
• The practical barrier now is cost and coverage, not supply. Georgia Medicaid excludes weight-loss drugs entirely; the State Health Benefit Plan routes them through one program; TRICARE covers them for most but not all beneficiaries.
• A pharmacy being out of your dose is not a national shortage. It is a stocking issue, and it is usually solvable in a few days.

Is There Still a GLP-1 Shortage in 2026?

No — not for the medications most weight-management patients use. Here is exactly what the FDA drug shortage database showed when I checked it directly.

FDA shortage-database status verified August 19, 2026:

Liraglutide deserves a closer look, because “in shortage” overstates what patients will encounter. The database breaks the listing down by manufacturer and package, and as of the August 2026 entries most presentations are marked “Available” — including the Saxenda presentation used for weight management. Only a subset, including the Victoza presentations and one generic package, are marked “Limited Availability.” It is an open shortage record with real product-level constraints, not an empty shelf.

One more entry worth clearing up, because it looks alarming and is not: the database also carries a discontinuation notice dated June 4, 2026 for semaglutide tablets 3 mg, 7 mg, and 14 mg (the Rybelsus presentations), with the stated reason that these “will be replaced by Ozempic (semaglutide) tablets.” That is a brand transition, not a shortage.

⚠️ A real safety point inside that transition: the replacement Ozempic tablets are not milligram-for-milligram equivalent to the old ones. The 1.5 mg tablet corresponds to the old 3 mg, 4 mg to the old 7 mg, and 9 mg to the old 14 mg. If you take an oral semaglutide tablet for type 2 diabetes and the number on your bottle changed, do not assume you were shorted — and do not adjust anything on your own. Ask your prescriber or pharmacist to confirm the equivalence before your next dose.

How the Shortage Started and How It Ended

A brief timeline, because it is the context most people searching this question are missing.

1. 2022–2023 — demand outruns supply. Semaglutide and tirzepatide go onto the FDA shortage list as prescribing volume expands faster than manufacturing capacity.
2. During the shortage — compounding opens up. Federal law restricts compounding “essentially a copy” of an approved drug, but a listed shortage creates room for both 503A pharmacies and 503B outsourcing facilities to supply compounded versions. A large compounded market forms, much of it sold through telehealth platforms.
3. December 19, 2024 — tirzepatide resolved. FDA determines the tirzepatide injection shortage is over.
4. February 21, 2025 — semaglutide resolved. FDA makes the same determination for semaglutide injection products.
5. 2025 — compounding wind-down. FDA set dates after which the shortage-related discretion no longer applied: for tirzepatide, February 18, 2025 (503A) and March 19, 2025 (503B); for semaglutide, April 22, 2025 (503A) and May 22, 2025 (503B).
6. 2025–2026 — supply broadens. Capacity expands and several new approved products reach the market, structurally reducing the odds of a repeat shortage.

The takeaway: the shortage lasted roughly two to three years, ended on documented dates, and the regulatory permissions that depended on it ended with it.

What Changed for Patients Who Started on Compounded Medication

If you began GLP-1 treatment between roughly 2023 and 2025, there is a meaningful chance your medication was compounded — made by a pharmacy or outsourcing facility rather than manufactured and FDA-approved as Wegovy, Ozempic, Zepbound, or Mounjaro. That was legal, widespread, and for many patients the only affordable option at the time. What changed is the legal footing, not the patient.

Compounded drugs are not FDA-approved, and are not reviewed for safety, effectiveness, or manufacturing quality the way an approved product is. The shortage listing was what made large-scale compounding of these molecules defensible, and once FDA declared the shortages resolved, that justification lapsed on the schedule above.

The 2026 regulatory picture

Four developments define where things stand. All verified August 19, 2026.

• The 503B bulks list proposal (May 1, 2026). Published in the Federal Register under Docket FDA-2018-N-3240 and announced by FDA on April 30, 2026, this proposal would not include semaglutide, tirzepatide, and liraglutide on the list of bulk substances outsourcing facilities may compound from. FDA said it “did not identify sufficient evidence” to include them, and stated that patient preference does not by itself establish clinical need. This is still a proposal. The comment period was extended and closed July 30, 2026, and FDA has issued no final determination. Anyone telling you compounded GLP-1s have been permanently banned is ahead of the record.
• Warning letters to 30 telehealth companies (March 3, 2026). FDA cited marketing that implied compounded products are equivalent to the FDA-approved versions, and putting a company’s own brand name on a compounded drug without disclosure, which can suggest that company is the compounder. This followed a smaller action in September 2025.
• Import Alert 66-80. Established to help stop GLP-1 active pharmaceutical ingredients with potential quality concerns from entering the U.S. supply chain.
• Adverse event reports. As of May 31, 2026, FDA had received 990 reports associated with compounded semaglutide and more than 730 associated with compounded tirzepatide, and notes the true numbers are likely higher because state-licensed pharmacies are not required to report. A report does not prove the product caused the event — but FDA’s stated concerns are concrete: products arriving warm or unrefrigerated, dosing errors from confusion between units and milligrams, mislabeled products from unlicensed sources, and semaglutide salt forms (sodium or acetate) with no established safety data.

None of that means every compounded product ever dispensed was dangerous. It means knowing what you are injecting matters.

The Real Access Barrier in 2026 Is Cost and Coverage

Supply is solved. Price is not. Below are the manufacturer self-pay prices as published by the manufacturers themselves.

Prices verified August 19, 2026. These programs change frequently, several carry expiration dates, and the figures below are not a quote from any pharmacy or practice. Confirm current pricing before making a decision.

Both manufacturers list roughly $25 per month for patients whose commercial insurance actually covers the drug, and both self-pay programs are currently scheduled to expire December 31, 2026. Zepbound counts a “month” as 28 days; Foundayo counts it as 30.

Related: what GLP-1 medications actually cost in Georgia.

The Georgia coverage landscape

Georgia’s specifics matter more here than the national averages you will read elsewhere.

Georgia Medicaid does not cover weight-loss medications. State Plan Amendment GA-24-0001, effective January 1, 2024, excludes “agents used for anorexia, weight loss or weight gain.” The Georgia Preferred Drug List effective August 1, 2026 confirms it: Wegovy, Zepbound, Saxenda, Contrave, Qsymia, phentermine, and orlistat do not appear. GLP-1s appear only in the diabetes class.

State Health Benefit Plan (SHBP) members go through one program. SHBP states that its 9amHealth weight-management benefit “is mandatory for any members with a new weight loss prescription and those members currently receiving coverage of any weight loss prescription drugs upon expiration of their current prior authorization period,” effective February 1, 2026. It applies to members on Anthem or UnitedHealthcare plans; Kaiser Permanente members are excluded. The associated provider bulletins confirm the requirement excludes diabetes GLP-1s such as Ozempic and Mounjaro — it governs weight-loss prescriptions only. That matters across Coastal Georgia, because SHBP covers public school employees and state workers throughout Chatham, Bryan, Effingham, and Liberty counties.

TRICARE covers weight-loss drugs for most, but not all, beneficiaries. TRICARE Prime, Select, Young Adult, Reserve Select, Retired Reserve, and CHCBP enrollees have coverage for Saxenda, Wegovy, Zepbound, Qsymia, phentermine, and Contrave with an approved prior authorization, a network prescriber, and a network pharmacy. TRICARE For Life beneficiaries are not covered for weight-loss drugs — that changed August 31, 2025, and previously approved prior authorizations became invalid that day. Around Fort Stewart and Hunter Army Airfield, this distinction gets misread in both directions.

The Medicare GLP-1 Bridge is live — with real fine print. Since July 1, 2026, and running through December 31, 2027, eligible Medicare Part D beneficiaries can get Foundayo, Wegovy (injection and tablets), or Zepbound (KwikPen formulation only) for a flat $50 per month. Eligibility requires Part D coverage, age 18+, and either BMI ≥35, or BMI ≥30 with certain cardiovascular or kidney conditions, or BMI ≥27 with prediabetes or established cardiovascular disease. The fine print almost nothing patient-facing explains: the $50 copay does not count toward your Part D deductible, does not count toward the annual out-of-pocket cap, and Extra Help low-income subsidies do not apply to it. For some lower-income beneficiaries, standard Part D can work out cheaper. Run both.

And one correction worth stating plainly, because it circulates as a rumor: TRICARE For Life beneficiaries are not automatically Bridge-eligible. Most receive drug coverage through the TRICARE Pharmacy Program rather than Part D, and Part D enrollment is a prerequisite — with its own premium and potential late-enrollment implications.

“My Pharmacy Doesn’t Have My Dose” — Why That Is Not a Shortage

These two situations get conflated constantly, and they call for completely different responses.

A national shortage is a documented, FDA-tracked supply failure affecting a drug across the country. It appears in the FDA drug shortage database, lasts months or years, and no pharmacy can reliably fill it.

A local stocking gap is one pharmacy not having a specific dose on the shelf on a specific day. It happens with GLP-1s constantly, for ordinary reasons: refrigerated products are ordered in limited quantity, a particular dose sells unevenly, or a wholesaler delivery slipped.

If your dose is not in stock:

1. Ask when their next order arrives. Most pharmacies restock within one to three business days.
2. Ask them to check sister locations. Chains can see nearby inventory and often transfer stock.
3. Call two or three other pharmacies before moving the prescription. Across Savannah, Pooler, Richmond Hill, and Hinesville, availability varies location to location week to week.
4. Ask your prescriber’s office. A practice that fills these weekly usually knows which local pharmacies stock which products.
5. Ask about manufacturer direct-to-patient pharmacies if you are self-paying — both manufacturers now ship directly.
6. Do not skip doses or improvise a substitute while you sort it out. If a gap is unavoidable, tell your prescriber, because restarting after an interruption sometimes requires a dose adjustment.

What a stocking gap is not is a reason to seek out an unverified source. The supply exists; this is logistics.

If You Are Currently Using a Compounded GLP-1

Nothing here is urgent, but it is a reasonable moment to understand your position. Questions worth getting clear answers to:

• Is my medication compounded or FDA-approved? Any prescriber or pharmacy should answer directly. If you cannot get a straight answer, that itself is information.
• Which facility compounds it — a licensed 503A pharmacy or a registered 503B outsourcing facility?
• Is it semaglutide or tirzepatide base, or a salt form? FDA has specifically flagged semaglutide sodium and acetate as lacking established safety data.
• How is it shipped and stored, and what should I do if it arrives warm?
• What is my dose in milligrams, not units? Unit-versus-milligram confusion is a documented source of overdose reports.
• What is my plan if the regulatory picture changes? With the 503B proposal pending, knowing your alternative in advance is simply practical.

For a fuller comparison — including how to evaluate a source and what the differences mean clinically — see our guide on compounded vs. brand-name semaglutide in Georgia.

I am not telling anyone to stop or switch anything. That decision belongs to you and a clinician who knows your history.

More Approved Options Now Exist Than During the Shortage

One reason a repeat of 2022–2024 is less likely: there are simply more approved products on the market than when supply broke down. Three arrived within the past year.

Worth saying plainly: both oral options produce meaningfully less average weight loss than injectable tirzepatide or high-dose semaglutide. More choices genuinely improves supply resilience and lets treatment be matched to a patient’s life. It is not a claim that every option performs equally.

When to Talk to Your Doctor

Reach out to your prescriber promptly if:

• You are on a compounded GLP-1 and want to understand your options as the regulatory picture develops
• Your pharmacy cannot fill your dose and you are approaching a missed week
• Your coverage changed — a new plan year, a new employer, aging into Medicare, or a TRICARE status change
• You have been off your medication for more than a couple of weeks and are unsure whether to resume at the same dose
• Your medication arrived warm, looks cloudy or discolored, or came from a source you cannot verify
• You are taking oral semaglutide and the milligram number on your bottle changed

Seek urgent or emergency care — do not wait for a routine appointment — for:

• Severe, persistent abdominal pain, particularly radiating to the back and with vomiting (possible pancreatitis)
• Signs of significant dehydration: dizziness on standing, sharply reduced urination, confusion
• Signs of a severe allergic reaction: swelling of the face, lips, or tongue, or difficulty breathing
• Symptoms of severe low blood sugar, especially if you also take insulin or a sulfonylurea

One general point that applies regardless of where you get your medication: GLP-1s carry a boxed warning for thyroid C-cell tumors based on rodent studies, are contraindicated in people with a personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma or MEN 2, and are contraindicated in pregnancy. These are the kinds of things a full medical history is supposed to catch before the first dose.

Scale Solutions & Coastal Georgia

The shortage years pushed a lot of patients into fragmented care — a product from one source, a prescriber they never met, and nobody holding the whole picture. Now that supply has stabilized and the real obstacles are coverage rules and cost, having a clinician who knows your situation matters more, not less.

In Coastal Georgia, that looks practical: knowing SHBP handles weight-loss prescriptions differently than diabetes prescriptions, knowing which TRICARE categories retained coverage after August 2025, knowing Georgia Medicaid will not cover a weight-loss agent no matter how the prior authorization is written, and knowing which pharmacies around Savannah, Pooler, Richmond Hill, and Hinesville reliably stock which doses. That local knowledge saves patients weeks.

It also means someone is watching the medical side over time — reviewing your history and other medications before you start, monitoring how you tolerate dose increases, checking labs when appropriate, protecting muscle and nutrition during active weight loss, and planning for maintenance rather than treating the medication as a temporary event.

If you live in Savannah or anywhere in Coastal Georgia and you are trying to sort out a supply question, a coverage question, or what to do about a compounded prescription, you are welcome to contact Scale Solutions. We are glad to talk it through, whether or not you end up becoming a patient.

Related: how the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge works in Georgia.

Related: check whether you may be a candidate.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is there still a semaglutide or tirzepatide shortage in 2026? No. As verified in the FDA drug shortage database on August 19, 2026, neither semaglutide nor tirzepatide appears as a current shortage. FDA declared the tirzepatide shortage resolved December 19, 2024 and the semaglutide shortage resolved February 21, 2025.

Is liraglutide still in shortage? Yes, technically. Liraglutide injection remained listed as “Currently in Shortage” as of August 19, 2026, with the record first posted July 18, 2023. However, most individual presentations in the listing — including the Saxenda presentation used for weight management — are marked available, with limited availability on a subset.

Can compounding pharmacies still make semaglutide or tirzepatide? The broad shortage-based allowance ended in 2025. On May 1, 2026, FDA published a proposal (Docket FDA-2018-N-3240) that would exclude semaglutide, tirzepatide, and liraglutide from the 503B bulks list. The comment period closed July 30, 2026, and FDA had issued no final determination as of August 19, 2026. Compounding for a genuinely individualized clinical need is a separate, narrower question from large-scale copying.

My pharmacy is out of my dose. Is the shortage back? Almost certainly not. One pharmacy out of one dose on one day is a stocking issue, not a national shortage. Ask when their next order arrives, ask them to check nearby locations, and call a couple of other pharmacies before moving the prescription.

Why does my medication cost so much now if the shortage is over? Because supply and price were never the same problem. Compounded product was often cheaper, and as that channel narrowed, more patients met brand pricing for the first time. Manufacturer self-pay programs run roughly $149 to $699 per month depending on product and dose (verified August 19, 2026), and Georgia’s coverage rules leave many patients paying out of pocket.

Does Georgia Medicaid cover Wegovy or Zepbound? No. Georgia’s State Plan Amendment GA-24-0001 excludes agents used for weight loss, and neither drug appears on the Georgia Preferred Drug List effective August 1, 2026. GLP-1s appear only in the diabetes class.

I’m on Medicare. Does the GLP-1 Bridge solve this? Sometimes. Since July 1, 2026 eligible Part D beneficiaries can get Foundayo, Wegovy, or Zepbound KwikPen for $50 per month. But that copay does not count toward your deductible or your annual out-of-pocket cap, and Extra Help does not apply to it — so for some lower-income beneficiaries, standard Part D can be less expensive overall. Compare both before enrolling.

Conclusion

The shortage question that brought most people to this page has a clean answer: it is over for semaglutide and tirzepatide, resolved on documented dates, with liraglutide the remaining exception. What the shortage left behind is harder — a narrowed compounding pathway still being finalized, prices many patients are meeting for the first time, and a Georgia coverage landscape with real gaps in it. Those are solvable, but they are solved with information and planning, not by waiting for supply to improve.

If you are in Savannah, Pooler, Richmond Hill, Hinesville, or anywhere in Coastal Georgia and you cannot get your hands on the medication you were prescribed — a pharmacy that can’t fill it, a compounded product you have questions about, a coverage denial you don’t understand, or a price you weren’t expecting — reach out to Scale Solutions. We will tell you what your realistic options are, including the ones that don’t involve us.

MEDICAL SOURCES & FURTHER READING

FDA

• FDA Drug Shortages Database — semaglutide, tirzepatide, liraglutide, and orforglipron status; liraglutide injection listing (first posted 07/18/2023); semaglutide tablet discontinuation notice (06/04/2026). https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/drugshortages/default.cfm (status verified August 19, 2026)
• FDA, “FDA clarifies policies for compounders as national GLP-1 supply begins to stabilize” — tirzepatide resolved December 19, 2024; semaglutide resolved February 21, 2025; 503A and 503B wind-down dates. https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-alerts-and-statements/fda-clarifies-policies-compounders-national-glp-1-supply-begins-stabilize
• FDA press announcement, “FDA Proposes to Exclude Semaglutide, Tirzepatide, and Liraglutide on 503B Bulks List,” April 30, 2026. https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-proposes-exclude-semaglutide-tirzepatide-and-liraglutide-503b-bulks-list
• Federal Register, “List of Bulk Drug Substances for Which There Is a Clinical Need Under Section 503B,” Docket FDA-2018-N-3240, published May 1, 2026. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/05/01/2026-08552/list-of-bulk-drug-substances-for-which-there-is-a-clinical-need-under-section-503b-of-the-federal
• Federal Register, comment period extension to July 30, 2026, published June 26, 2026. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2026/06/26/2026-12937/list-of-bulk-drug-substances-for-which-there-is-a-clinical-need-under-section-503b-of-the-federal
• FDA press announcement, “FDA warns 30 telehealth companies against illegal marketing of compounded GLP-1s,” March 3, 2026. https://www.fda.gov/news-events/press-announcements/fda-warns-30-telehealth-companies-against-illegal-marketing-compounded-glp-1s
• FDA, “FDA’s Concerns with Unapproved GLP-1 Drugs Used for Weight Loss” — adverse event counts as of May 31, 2026; salt forms; storage, dosing-error, and Import Alert 66-80 concerns. https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-alerts-and-statements/fdas-concerns-unapproved-glp-1-drugs-used-weight-loss (current 06/15/2026)

Government — Medicare & Medicaid

• CMS, Medicare GLP-1 Bridge Program — July 1, 2026 start, $50 copay, deductible/TrOOP and low-income subsidy exclusions, beneficiary eligibility criteria. https://www.cms.gov/
• Georgia State Plan Amendment GA-24-0001 (effective January 1, 2024) — excluded outpatient drug categories including “agents used for anorexia, weight loss or weight gain.” https://www.medicaid.gov/medicaid/spa/downloads/GA-24-0001.pdf
• Georgia Medicaid Preferred Drug List, effective August 1, 2026. https://fm.formularynavigator.com/FBO/4/Georgia_PDL_English.pdf

Georgia & military coverage

• Georgia State Health Benefit Plan, 9amHealth Weight Management Program. https://shbp.georgia.gov/plan-options-programs/pharmacy/9amhealth-weight-management-program
• Georgia SHBP, “GLP-1s: What Should You Know About Them,” February 1, 2026. https://shbp.georgia.gov/blog-post/2026-02-01/glp-1s-what-should-you-know-about-them
• TRICARE, Weight Loss Drugs coverage page — covered beneficiary categories, TRICARE For Life exclusion effective August 31, 2025, and the Medicare GLP-1 Bridge note. https://www.tricare.mil/

Manufacturer pricing (self-pay programs)

• Zepbound self-pay pricing and refill offer, LillyDirect. https://zepbound.lilly.com/ (verified August 19, 2026)
• Foundayo self-pay pricing, LillyDirect. https://www.lillydirect.lilly.com/ (verified August 19, 2026)
• Wegovy pricing, NovoCare Pharmacy. https://www.novocare.com/ (verified August 19, 2026)

Prescribing information

• Wegovy prescribing information (injection rev. 06/2026; tablets rev. 01/2026) — dysesthesia rates, oral administration requirements, boxed warning. https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cder/daf/
• Foundayo (orforglipron) prescribing information — administration with or without food. https://www.accessdata.fda.gov/scripts/cder/daf/

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