SILVER SPRING, Md. – Starting next month, the Food and Drug Administration will restrict who can make and sell popular weight-loss medications known as GLP-1s.
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The FDA says compounding pharmacies, which make similar versions of name-brand drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy, will no longer be allowed to sell them after the end of April and May.
In 2022, weight-loss drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy and others experienced a surge in popularity.
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In order to meet skyrocketing demand, the FDA gave permission to compounding pharmacies to make non-brand name copies of those drugs.
“Compounding pharmacies were allowed by the FDA for a short period of time, to produce these medications until manufacturers could catch up,” said Dr. Lydia Alexander, president of the Obesity Medicine Association.
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The FDA now says the manufacturers of brand-name drugs have caught up, and starting April 22, special permission for compounding pharmacies will be revoked.
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Some types of compounding pharmacies have until May 22 to stop making the drugs.
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Alexander, who leads the Obesity Medicine Association, explained that the doses and ingredients used by compounded pharmacies for GLP-1s aren’t as closely regulated by the FDA.
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“Some of the medicines made are fine, some are not,” she said.
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Alexander also pointed out that some products advertised online, like those claiming to contain the same active ingredients as Ozempic, can be red flags.
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“There are a lot of counterfeit and fake products out there… they are not undergoing the same safety standards,” she said.
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A recent Kaiser Family Foundation survey found that 38 percent of people taking GLP-1s are using them solely to lose weight, not to treat a chronic condition like diabetes or obesity.
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“It’s important to note it hasn’t been studied in people who have five to ten pounds to lose. We don’t know what the adverse effects are, the safety of that. There haven’t been any long-term studies,” Alexander said.
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You can read the FDA decision here.
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