Nov 13 (Reuters) - Hims & Hers Health ( HIMS ) on

Wednesday launched a tracker for popular weight-loss and

diabetes drugs that allows patients to share details about their

challenges finding treatments such as Novo Nordisk's

Wegovy.

The telehealth firm said it would share the information with

the U.S. Food and Drug Administration about shortages of the

brand-name treatments, it said.

The FDA did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for

comment.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

Americans are still eagerly seeking prescriptions for

Eli Lilly ( LLY ) and Novo's weight-loss and diabetes drugs but

cannot always fill them because of supply issues and insurance

hurdles, according to their doctors.

Branded GLP-1 drugs from Novo and Lilly have been short in

supply for most of this year, fuelling demand for compounded

weight-loss treatments created by combining, mixing, or altering

drug ingredients.

Once back in supply, compounders and online pharmacies such

as Hims & Hers are supposed to stop producing compounded

versions of these drugs.

CONTEXT

The FDA took Lilly's Zepbound off its shortage list in early

October. But a compounding industry group sued the agency,

prompting it to revisit its decision and allow compounding

pharmacies and facilities to keep providing the drugs in the

meantime.

All doses of Novo's Wegovy are also listed as available,

though the drug is yet to come off the agency's shortage list.

Wall Street analysts have struggled to estimate the size of

the market but some have said compounded drugs could be reaching

a larger number of patients than captured in official data.

The FDA has a public portal where patients or caregivers can

report new drug shortages. It also tracks existing or known drug

shortages on its website.