United States: The CEO of the company that makes the diabetes and obesity drugs Ozempic and Wegovy is constantly warning people about unsafe versions of these drugs. These fake versions have caused at least 100 hospitalizations, and which has already caused to 10 deaths. The CEO said some people are being tricked into thinking they’re getting the real drug, but it’s not from the company that makes it.
A compounded drug is created by a pharmacy or another entity other than the original manufacturers of the approved versions of the medications and are usually allowed when there is a shortage of the appropriate drugs.
As reported by the HealthDay, semaglutide and other drugs in the same class called GLP-1 have been in short supply in the last two years because millions of Americans have sought the medicines as an aid to reaching major weight loss goals.
As for semaglutide, last week, Novo Nordisk pointed out that the only Wegovy dose that was in short supply is now listed as available at this link, CNN reported.
“Right now we are in cooperation with the FDA, and I think they have questions about what are some of the things they have to take into account because I think they are just as concerned about the patient’s health,” Jorgensen said. “So exactly how that will come about, I think, has not yet been written.”
From where did the unfavourable indicators of death and hospitalization rates emerge? These they obtained from the U.S Food and Drug Administration adverse event reporting database involving semaglutide.
But the FDA cautions that info inputted into that database is unconfirmed and the fact that the drugs aren’t listed as having caused the reported harms isn’t a guarantee that they’ve never led to them. The agency has not addressed a request for comment on the reports.
However, the agency said in October that it has received “multiple reports of adverse events, some of which required hospitalization, potentially linked to dosing errors in compounded injectable semaglutide products.”
The FDA has also explained that some compounders might be selling salt forms of semaglutide, which comprise different active substances than the originals, and that counterfeit versions of Ozempic are also on sale.
Semaglutide and another GLP-1 medication, tirzepatide (Mounjaro/Zepbound), had been on the FDA’s shortage list since 2022, as use of such medicines, known as GLP-1 receptor agonists, accelerated.