2023-12-05 12:41:49
As demand for Ozempic increases, the United States is experiencing a shortage. Although this medicine is intended to treat diabetes, it is also used for weight loss.
Like many Americans who want to lose weight, Marisa Montanino felt that she had to try injections of the drug “Ozempic”, which is very popular in the United States and has revolutionized the fight once morest obesity.
The 36-year-old beauty expert told Agence France-Presse, “I used to exercise sometimes three times a day and follow a healthy diet, but my weight did not change.”
She added, “I heard regarding Ozambik, and then I began to notice people, like celebrities, losing weight quickly” as a result of taking the drug, which was created by the Danish Novo Nordisk laboratories and licensed in 2017 in the United States.
But Montanino was concerned regarding the risk of gastrointestinal disorders that might accompany Ozempic, an anti-diabetic injection.
“I was very afraid and anxious,” she says. “I was very afraid of the idea that I would become nauseous.”
Composite products
When she finally decided to take the plunge, her doctor prescribed her not Ozempic but combination products that included the same active molecule found in Novo Nordisk injections, semaglutide, whose role is to send satiety signals to the brain.
These combination products have long been used in the United States when a patient is allergic to one of the drug components.
The US authorities stated at the end of last October that “combined products pose an increased risk to patients compared to medications approved by the Food and Drug Administration” because “they are not subject to an evaluation that looks into their safety, effectiveness, and quality, before being put on the market.”
The FDA indicates – on its website – that it has received “reports of complications experienced by some people following using semaglutide in some combination alternatives” without adding further details.
More than 40% of Americans suffer from obesity, which indicates the existence of a major health crisis and a huge market for these new types of drugs similar to Ozambik, due to their effectiveness.
“The main problem is the difficulty of obtaining treatment,” researcher and physician Samuel Klein of Washington University in St. Louis said, via Agence France-Presse, adding, “There are not enough manufactured medicines.”
The American markets recently witnessed a shortage of “Ozambik” injections following this treatment caused an uproar on social media because of its properties related to weight loss.
The FDA has classified semaglutide and tirzepatide, a molecule used by Eli Lilly in its anti-diabetes and anti-obesity products, as currently in “shortage” status.
Alternatives
This classification would remove some restrictions, allowing companies to prepare products that are “essentially substitutes for approved drugs,” according to the FDA.
Therefore, a large number of Americans resort to these options, which are sometimes cheaper, knowing that experts and authorities warn of the risks that may be involved.
In an interview with Agence France-Presse, obesity specialist Andrea Coviello is concerned regarding her patients who often request these alternatives via the Internet.
The professor at the University of North Carolina says, “If some people succeeded in losing weight, we do not know exactly what they used.”
Montanino, who is 1.53 meters tall, says that her weight was 71.2 kilograms and became 58.9 kilograms in less than 6 months, thanks to the injections that she used weekly. She is currently aiming to weigh 56.7 kilograms.
Various people she comes into contact with who are also taking weight loss treatments are “very happy” and one of them is also using Novo Nordisk’s Wijovi.
forever
Montanino paid $300 for a three-month treatment, but since the doses are gradually increasing, she may have to reach a point where she pays $300 a month.
It is in the interest of Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly – which already make billions of dollars from their products – for these molecules to remain classified as “shortage” and to enhance their production capacity.
The two companies have filed several lawsuits once morest laboratories that prepare products similar to what they invent.
Despite the lack of clarity surrounding these products, Montanino intends to continue receiving weight-loss treatment “for life” if possible.
The beauty expert celebrated her weight loss with her husband, who also lost 22 kilograms, by taking new photos of them.
She says, “I feel satisfied and I am very happy because the clothes fit me. I hate to say it…but losing weight has made me feel more comfortable.”
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