What it means that the shortage of weight loss drugs is almost over

Drug shortages attract patient risk in many forms. Since first seeing compounded semaglutide for sale on Etsy in early 2023, the Partnership for Safe Medicines has recognized the unique threats that counterfeit and substandard versions of FDA-approved diabetes and obesity injectable medicines pose to consumer safety.

Because unprecedented demand has outweighed the FDA-approved supply, PSM has used its platform as a leading advocate for patient and prescription drug safety to raise awareness about the risks involved with both counterfeiting and compounding on a scale we’ve never seen before.

We recently released the results of a public opinion poll that showed likely voters have high degrees of trust in the safety of the U.S. drug supply chain, a testament to the hard work of the FDA, boards of pharmacy, pharmacists, distributors, and manufacturers.  The poll also revealed many Americans are uninformed about the inherent differences in, and increasing prevalence of, compounded medications, with a specific emphasis on diabetes and obesity injectables.

That gap in education and the documented harms drives our work to educate patients and stakeholders about compounded medications in all their forms – from licensed, legitimate compounding pharmacies to criminal enterprises operating with only profit in mind.

While compounded medicines are critically important when drugs are in shortage and for patients with specific needs, the explosion of misleading lookalikes in the diabetes and weight loss space has prompted several FDA warnings and worrisome reports of adverse events.

As manufacturers increase production capacity for these medicines, the end of the shortage should relieve the pressure that leads patients to seek out lookalike counterfeits from online vendors, reducing black market demand and the proliferation of knock-offs.  Additionally, fewer Americans will be exposed to well-intentioned compounded versions of these medicines that have led to mis-dosing, sterility, and inconsistent API issues.

Patient safety will always be our top priority. Throughout the shortage, we have urged Congress and the FDA to use existing authorities to protect Americans from counterfeit and poorly compounded diabetes and weight loss injectable medicines. We are closely following the likely end of the shortage and, as the market transitions back to an FDA-approved drug supply, will continue to assess the risks to patients and advocate for the regulatory oversight that has made our drug supply the safest in the world.