design is beneficial
how ux can improve supply chain logistics
A spring 2025 UNT student concept. Not affiliated with or endorsed by Novo Nordisk.
Ozempic is in critical demand, and its supply chain can’t keep up. I researched how UX can improve the logistics behind a medication people depend on.
About 38 million Americans have diabetes, and 90 to 95% of them have type 2.
Demand for GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic has surged: in a May 2024 KFF poll, about 1 in 8 adults said they had ever taken one. Diabetes is also more common in rural areas, where limited access to healthcare makes proper treatment hard to get. Left untreated, type 2 diabetes can lead to organ failure, nerve damage, and death.
Research done in spring 2025. Sources: KFF Health Tracking Poll, May 2024 and American Diabetes Association.
*2025 Medicaid prescription fills, all GLP-1 drugs. Fills are not unique people; repeat refills count again. Small cells are suppressed.
Mapping the supply-chain stressors behind a medication in critical demand.
Tap or hover for more information expertise→ingredients→testing→distribution | pain point
Who can afford Ozempic to treat type 2 diabetes?
Over half of GLP-1 users say cost is a major barrier
A KFF Health Tracking Poll found that about 54% of adults who have taken GLP-1 drugs, including those with insurance, reported difficulty affording the medication. That includes 22% who said it was “very difficult” to afford.
A health crisis
Over 100 million Americans are diabetic or prediabetic. Limited access to GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic is a public health crisis, not a luxury concern.
Health or a home
These are real people, living with diabetes, facing impossible choices every month. How would your choices differ at nearly $1,000 a month, Ozempic’s list price when we did this research?
What Affording Ozempic Really Feels Like Tap or hover for more informationSwipe across, then tap a person for more
Market leaders in diabetic treatment
Ozempic® and Mounjaro® are two of the most widely prescribed treatments for T2D, but how well do they actually serve the people they were designed for? This comparison looks past approval status at the care people with T2D actually get, and where it falls short.
Why does this matter?
Managing T2D takes more than medication. It takes food, movement, stress management, and support. When a treatment leaves those out, people are left to figure out the rest on their own.
Expanding NovoCare with an app and telehealth options.
We asked real people taking Ozempic or living with T2D
In user interviews, people told us about the fear and confusion of managing treatment alone. We grouped what we heard into themes, then ranked them into the needs our NovoCare app had to meet first.
Moving NovoCare.com to an app
Focusing on what users needed most from NovoCare, we began with low-fidelity wireframes to shape the layout and flow of the app. The three core sections, Explore, Your Treatment, and Telehealth, became the foundation of the experience.
User profiles
We then added a customizable user profile, providing space to track progress, lifestyle changes, doses, shipments, and more.
Onboarding
Finally, we designed onboarding to feel easy, especially for people starting Ozempic for the first time.
Diabetic Education
This page features videos and articles on T2D. Diabetic education helps users manage their health safely.
Your Treatment
This helps users stay consistent with their medication by tracking doses and showing how to inject safely.
Side Effect Details
This pop-up feature gives users quick, clear information about common side effects.
Telehealth/Contact
This feature makes it easier for users to connect with their providers for check-ins or dose adjustments.
That wraps up my research and the NovoCare app.
My teammates each took on their own recommendation for a more sustainable supply chain.
Chloe recommended a research partnership. Novo Nordisk would partner with Duke to fund exploratory research on Ozempic and other GLP-1 drugs, turning academic findings into industry applications faster.
Sophia recommended careful marketing practices. Social media turned Ozempic into a weight-loss trend, and that demand fed shortages that left people with type 2 diabetes struggling to fill their prescriptions.
Together, the NovoCare app, a Duke research partnership, and careful marketing practices point toward a more transparent, more sustainable Ozempic supply chain.