United States: The prices of Ozempic have been escalating in the last few months; it has been leading for many people to look for more affordable ways of managing type two diabetes or obesity.
More about the news
Certain doctors and the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) want people to be aware of the risks involved in “knock-off brands” of semaglutides, which are one of the drugs belonging to the GLP-1 class of drugs.
Dr. Brett Osborn, a Florida-based neurosurgeon and anti-aging doctor who has been recommending pharmaceutical-grade versions of these medications since 2019, says he is “concerned.”
According to him, “Due to the cost of brand-name Ozempic, more and more people are turning to cheaper knock-off versions, often found online or through non-regulated channels,” Fox News reported.
“These knock-offs are synthesized in non-medical environments without the necessary quality assurance or quality control, making them inherently risky,” he added.
Potential harms of these medicines
As Osborn warned, there is a chance that these medicines bring harm, as there is no proper oversight of their source of production quality.
“When they’re made in unregulated environments, there’s no telling what you’re putting into your body,” he added.
Moreover, Dr. Sue Decotiis, MD, who is a weight-loss doctor in New York City, has confirmed that a certain few people are looking for cheaper alternatives. However, they noted that their probable side effects are also becoming more widely known.
“This happened to one of my patients before he came to me,” Decotiis noted, Fox News reported.
She mentioned, “He got a medication from a pharmacy in Florida, and then the drug just stopped working. Weeks later, the pharmacy shut down.”
Many of the illegitimate pharmacies that are not credited by their state’s local pharmacy board will “just disappear,” she added.
As the expert warned, the biggest associated risk is that the patients have no idea of how negative the medications would prove to a certain patient, as disreputable providers could add fillers to the products.