July 29, 2024: FDA issued new alert about compounded semaglutide
Major Stories
FDA says patients are harming themselves with compounded semaglutide due to dosing errors and an indictment handed down in Texas.
These syringes represent the dosage error some patients using compounded semaglutide are making. (Image: FDA)
The FDA issued an alert about dosing errors associated with compounded semaglutide. Adverse events, including hospitalizations, were reported after patients incorrectly measured out the medication, with some individuals reportedly injecting themselves with ten times the prescribed dose.
A federal grand jury officially handed down an indictment against Sanjay Kumar, an Indian national arrested in Texas in June. He faces one count conspiracy to traffic counterfeit drugs and four counts trafficking in counterfeit drugs for allegedly selling thousands of dollars worth of fake cancer drugs to patients in the U.S.
Domestic News
Pill press cases in California and New York and new legislation introduced in the House.
Pill press seized in California. (Image: Santa Rosa Police Department)
Police in Santa Rosa, CA seized a pill press while executing a search warrant.
A New York man had his sentencing in a Missouri counterfeit pill case postponed after his recent indictment in a new counterfeit pill manufacturing and distributing case.
A group of bipartisan lawmakers in the House introduces a bill to reform certain pharmacy benefits manager’s (PBM) practices. This bill specifically seeks to lower costs for patients enrolled in federal healthcare programs and to ensure that community pharmacies are reimbursed fairly by PBMs.
The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned two Mexican nationals and two Mexican companies for their roles in producing and trafficking illicit fentanyl. One of the individuals is a cell leader responsible for the manufacture of counterfeit pills made with fentanyl.
CDC released a report examining patients hospitalized in one hospital in the western region of the country after ingesting counterfeit pills that contained fentanyl.
International News
Health Canada expands a public alert and cases involving pill presses in New Zealand and the U.K.
Health Canada expanded upon a June alert, warning the public not to purchase two additional unauthorized products being sold on Quadragen and Advanced Research’s websites.
Man in New Zealand who was in possession of three pill presses received a three-year prison sentence.
Four men sentenced in the United Kingdom for using a pill press to manufacture tens of thousands of pills.
Illicit Captagon pills produced in Syria continue to spread throughout the Middle East region and as far away as Germany.
Counterfeit sleeping pills containing nitazines have caused a rash of overdoses in prisons in Ireland.
This is an image of one of the four unauthorized products that Health Canada issued a warning about.