Mounjaro frenzy sends prices soaring, with gaps of up to 180,000 won

[Financial News] A severe shortage of the obesity drug Mounjaro (ingredient: Tirzepatide) shows little sign of easing. As a result, the same drug is being sold at wildly different prices from pharmacy to pharmacy, sometimes differing by well over 100,000 won. Around the Lunar New Year holidays, supply instability peaked, and low-dose 2.5 mg and 5.0 mg products, which are mainly used in the early stages of treatment, have become virtually impossible to find at major pharmacies in central Seoul.
According to pharmaceutical data analytics platform BRP Insight on the 1st, the supply index for Mounjaro prefilled pen 5.0 mg has remained in the "unstable" range from the fifth week of January through the third week of February. In the third week of February, pharmacies nationwide placed 627 orders for the product, but only two shipments were actually fulfilled. At large pharmacies in the Jongno 5-ga, Seoul and Jongno 3-ga areas, often dubbed "meccas" for obesity drugs, signs reading "Mounjaro out of stock in all doses" have been posted at the entrance. Some pharmacies even limited sales to customers who had reserved the drug before the Lunar New Year.
Patients unable to obtain the drug in central Seoul have started traveling to pharmacies in the outskirts of the city and to regional areas such as Daejeon, creating a kind of "pilgrimage purchase" phenomenon. Taking advantage of the tight supply, some pharmacies that have secured inventory are sharply raising prices.
For the 5.0 mg dose of Mounjaro, a product that could at one point be purchased for as little as 370,000 won is now being sold for 550,000 won at some pharmacies. Where stock is still available, it has become common practice to add a markup of 20,000 to 30,000 won per box. As a result, the price of the same product at the same dose can differ by as much as 130,000 won depending on the pharmacy. Some pharmacies are even telling customers, "New stock will probably arrive sometime in March, but prices could go up further then."
The 5.0 mg dose is the point in the Mounjaro treatment regimen where meaningful weight-loss effects typically begin to appear, while side effects remain relatively manageable. It is therefore the most commonly prescribed strength. Among patients who cannot find any stock, some say, "I switched to a 7.5 mg prescription instead of 5.0 mg," while others report, "I took this opportunity to switch to the cheaper Wegovy," or even, "I’m thinking of going to Japan to get a prescription there."
Eli Lilly and Company Korea, which manufactures and supplies the drug, explained, "Demand for starting obesity treatment at the beginning of the year increased faster than expected, and on top of that, adjustments to global production and shipping schedules due to the Lunar New Year holidays caused a temporary delay in the supply of some quantities. We expect the situation to normalize from March."
If global production and logistics schedules return to normal this month, the supply crunch is expected to ease to some extent. However, as long as underlying demand for Mounjaro remains strong, some observers warn that prices are unlikely to fall significantly even after supply recovers. Because Mounjaro is a non-reimbursable drug that is not covered by the national health insurance system, it sits in a regulatory blind spot where its price is not effectively controlled. This structural issue is once again coming to the fore.
Regarding the differing prices of Mounjaro at different points of sale, Eli Lilly and Company Korea stated, "Under domestic law, the consumer price of medicines is determined autonomously by each medical institution, and the manufacturer is not allowed to restrict this."
wonder@fnnews.com Jeong Sang-hee Reporter