Two new studies show how eager Americans are to obtain either safe, legitimate versions of Ozempic or counterfeit and potentially dangerous forms of the diabetes/weight-loss drug. One study found U.S.
prescriptions and refills of Ozempic (semaglutide) soaring over the past three years, jumping almost five-fold (392%) between early 2021 and the end of 2023. Ozempic's reformulated-for-weight-loss cousin, Wegovy (also semaglutide), saw sales soar soon after its launch as well. According to researchers led by Dr.
Dima Qato, an associate professor of clinical pharmacy at the University of Southern California, sales of Wegovy climbed more than 14-fold between July 2021 and the end of 2023. "The number of prescriptions filled for semaglutide has increased substantially, reaching 2.6 million prescriptions filled at by December 2023," Qatos's team reported Aug.
2 in the journal It's all led to U.S. shortages of both Ozempic and Wegovy, first announced by the U.
S. Food and Drug Administration in March of 2022, the researchers noted. Consumers who either can't find semaglutide because of shortages, or who cannot afford the drugs (Wegovy is about $1,349 per month), are increasingly turning to black market vendors online, a second study found.
That's a dicey move, warned researchers at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD). They found many online counterfeit semaglutide products either contaminated with toxins or containing hazardous doses of the . In some cases, the drugs simply.