The makers of Wegovy and Ozempic issue a warning about deadly weight loss pills
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Healthcare firm Novo Nordisk said it was aware of reports of 10 deaths and 100 hospitalizations after taking mixed copies of its weight loss and diabetes drugs.
US laws allow compounding chemists to copy brand name drugs that are in short supply by mixing, combining or changing drug ingredients to meet demand.
Novo Nordisk’s popular weight-loss vaccine Wegovy and diabetes drug Ozempic, known chemically as semaglutide, were in short supply in the United States until recently.
Because of all the control of Novo Nordisk’s production of these two drugs, CEO Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen said that it is surprising that people in the United States can inject themselves with a product that is not controlled, approved or tested.
“It blows me away,” he told Reuters after the company reported better-than-expected third-quarter results. “I think this is something that will change over time,” he said of Wegovy’s combined brand oversight.
He added that copycat versions are being sold online and through so-called “health spas”, not through the formal distribution channels where Novo Nordisk and main rival Eli Lilly sell their approved drugs. .
Last month, Novo Nordisk asked the US FDA to ban the chemicals used to make copies of Wegovy and Ozempic, which it says are too complex for those manufacturers to produce safely.
Earlier on Wednesday, Novo Nordisk’s Chief Financial Officer, Karsten Munk Knudsen, told a press conference that the company is looking at several joint products on the market and has identified several safety concerns as well. and hospital and death records. The company did not provide further details when asked to clarify the reports and whether there is a link between the medicine and the deaths at the hospitals it mentioned.
Jorgensen noted that this safety report on the combination versions was not conducted through the FDA’s adverse event system.
Although the full strength of the doses of Ozempic and Wegovy are now listed on the FDA website, the drugs are still on the agency’s list of restrictions.
This was the result of significant investment in expanding its manufacturing capacity and ongoing communication with the FDA, the company said at the time.
“This is an ongoing discussion with the FDA. I don’t want to estimate today whether we will not get off the list of shortages, but this is the first step and we are confident that we will go down in the future,” Knudsen said. told reporters on Wednesday.
He said that it is important because if the product was not on the list of shortages, there are limits to combining pharmacies to make versions of copies.
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