Medically reviewed by Medicine.com.
By Ernie Mundell HealthDay Reporter
FRIDAY, Aug. 2, 2024 — Two new research present how keen People are to acquire both protected, respectable variations of Ozempic or counterfeit and doubtlessly harmful types of the diabetes/weight-loss drug.
One research discovered U.S. prescriptions and refills of Ozempic (semaglutide) hovering over the previous three years, leaping virtually five-fold (392%) between early 2021 and the top of 2023.
Ozempic’s reformulated-for-weight-loss cousin, Wegovy (additionally semaglutide), noticed gross sales soar quickly after its launch as properly.
In line with researchers led by Dr. Dima Qato, an affiliate professor of scientific pharmacy on the College of Southern California, gross sales of Wegovy climbed greater than 14-fold between July 2021 and the top of 2023.
“The variety of prescriptions crammed for semaglutide has elevated considerably, reaching 2.6 millon prescriptions crammed at retail pharmacies by December 2023,” Qatos’s crew reported Aug. 2 within the journal JAMA Well being Discussion board.
It is all led to U.S. shortages of each Ozempic and Wegovy, first introduced by the U.S. Meals and Drug Administration in March of 2022, the researchers famous.
Customers who both cannot discover semaglutide due to shortages, or who can not afford the medication (Wegovy is about $1,349 per 30 days), are more and more turning to black market distributors on-line, a second research discovered.
That is a dicey transfer, warned researchers on the College of California, San Diego (UCSD).
They discovered many on-line counterfeit semaglutide merchandise both contaminated with toxins or containing hazardous doses of the drug. In some circumstances, the medication merely weren’t delivered after customers despatched distributors tons of of {dollars}.
A crew led by Tim Mackey, of UCSD’s World Well being Program, performed on-line searches that turned up 317 on-line pharmacies providing semaglutide, 134 of which had been discovered to be unlawful operations.
MacKey’s teams ordered semaglutide from six websites already declared “not beneficial or rogue” by two main on-line pharmacy watchdog teams.
Three websites had been providing customers the usual 0.25 milligram semaglutide injection pens (just like Wegovy), whereas the opposite three provided a powdered type of the drug that may very well be “reconstituted for injection,” the researchers stated.
The medication weren’t low cost, with the smallest doses starting from $113 to $360.
Customers usually did not get what that they had hoped for.
Within the case of three of the distributors, the product merely by no means arrived, in what Mackey’s crew referred to as “nondelivery scams.” In these scams, distributors take your cash however then declare that the drug is being held at U.S. Customs and additional funds as much as $1,200 are wanted to launch them (U.S. Customs advised Mackey’s crew that such claims are fraudulent).
Nonetheless, doubtlessly worse outcomes could await individuals who do obtain their orders.
Real, branded Ozempic scores 22 out of twenty-two factors on a guidelines geared toward assessing drug purity and security. Sadly, merchandise from the remaining three distributors that had been obtained after which examined by researchers may solely muster a pathetic 8 or 9 at finest on the dimensions.
These merchandise usually had shoddy labeling and had been clearly unlicensed on the market, the us crew stated.
Past that, one pattern confirmed traces of endotoxins (a possible sign for micro organism), though no particular pathogen was detected.
The entire merchandise contained some semaglutide, “however with significantly decrease purity ranges,” Mackey’s crew wrote. One pattern contained 39% larger quantities of semaglutide than is beneficial, a doubtlessly harmful problem.
All of this may very well be contributing to diseases and overdoses, the researchers famous.
“U.S. poison facilities have reported a 1500% improve in calls associated to semaglutide,” Mackey and colleagues famous.
These illicit on-line pharmacies “function with out legitimate licenses and promote medicines like semaglutide with out prescription, [and] characterize a shopper threat for ineffective and harmful merchandise,” the crew concluded.
The research was revealed Aug. 2 within the journal JAMA Community Open.
Sources
JAMA Well being Discussion board and JAMA Community Open, Aug. 2, 2024
Disclaimer: Statistical knowledge in medical articles present basic developments and don’t pertain to people. Particular person elements can range significantly. At all times search personalised medical recommendation for particular person healthcare selections.
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Posted August 2024
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