NovoRapid PumpCart shortage: steady supply for pump users is squeezed until 2027
NovoRapid PumpCart 1.6ml cartridges, used in some insulin pumps, are in limited supply until 2027, with a full out-of-stock stretch in mid 2025.
If your insulin pump uses NovoRapid PumpCart cartridges, supply of them is limited until 2027, with a full out-of-stock stretch across June and July 2025. Here is the calm version: this is a squeeze on one specific cartridge, not a shortage of the insulin itself, and your team has alternatives. The practical thing to do is not to panic or stockpile, but to ask your pump clinic what your backup plan is, so a gap never leaves you without insulin. Pump users are usually advised to keep a backup way to take insulin anyway, and this is a good moment to check yours is in place.
- NovoRapid (insulin aspart) is a rapid (mealtime) insulin; PumpCart is the 1.6ml cartridge format made for certain pumps.
- These cartridges are in limited supply until 2027, including a full out-of-stock period across June and July 2025.
- It is a supply squeeze on one cartridge format, not the end of NovoRapid, which is still made in other forms.
- New pump users may not be started on PumpCart during the shortage, and existing users may be moved to an alternative rapid insulin or cartridge.
- Ask your pump clinic about your backup plan, and do not stockpile, which makes shortages worse for everyone.
What the shortage actually is
NovoRapid is a rapid-acting insulin, the fast insulin taken around meals. PumpCart is one particular format of it: a 1.6ml cartridge designed to sit inside certain insulin pumps. It is that cartridge, in that size, that is in limited supply until 2027, with a complete out-of-stock gap across June and July 2025. The insulin itself, NovoRapid, is not disappearing, and it is still available in other forms.
Supply notices like this sound alarming, but they are routine to manage, and teams deal with them regularly. The key message from the people running supply is the same one that always applies: do not stockpile. Buying up more than you need does not protect you, and it makes the squeeze tighter for the next person. What protects you is knowing your plan before you get near the bottom of your supply.
Why a backup plan matters most for pump users
A pump needs a steady supply of insulin to work, so a cartridge shortage lands differently for pump users than for someone on pens. If PumpCart is hard to get, your team can move you to an alternative rapid insulin or a different cartridge, and they would rather do that in a planned way than at the last minute. That is why the single most useful step is to ask your pump clinic now what happens if your usual cartridges run short.
Part of that plan is having a backup way to take insulin at all. Most pump users are advised to keep rapid-acting insulin pens as a fallback for times the pump cannot deliver, and this shortage is a good reason to check yours are in date and you know how to use them. A different brand of rapid insulin can behave slightly differently for you, so if you are switched, keep an eye on your numbers and flag anything unexpected to your team.
Worth doing before you run short
Questions that make an appointment useful
When it's urgent
The reason to sort a backup plan early is that being without working insulin is not safe. If you are ever left unable to take your insulin and start to feel unwell, high glucose with being sick, tummy pain, heavy or fast breathing, drowsiness, or breath that smells fruity, that can be DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis) and needs emergency help. Call 999 or go straight to A and E, and do not let testing delay the call. If you cannot get insulin but are not seriously unwell, contact your diabetes team or NHS 111 urgently.