STAT+: Popular insulin product enters shortage as other pens leave market
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- Lantus Solostar pens (3 mL insulin glargine) have been running low for several weeks due to increased demand "driven by broader market dynamics," a Sanofi spokesperson told STAT.
- The FDA does not technically classify the supply issue as a shortage, even though patients are struggling to fill prescriptions.
- Sanofi said it is "accelerating production and expediting all incoming replenishment stock" and that "ensuring patients have access to their medications" is its priority.
- Diabetes patients have had to call multiple pharmacy locations to find the pens, turning everyday users into ad-hoc pharmacy scouts.
- The squeeze on Lantus Solostar comes as other insulin pens exit the market, narrowing options for patients who depend on injectable long-acting insulin.
Why it matters: When a single drug maker sees supply tighten on a widely used long-acting insulin pen while competing pens leave the market, patients on a maintenance therapy can be left with no easy substitute — and the fact that the FDA has not formally called it a shortage means no formal relief pipeline (like temporary imports) is triggered, even as patients already report scrambling pharmacy to pharmacy.
