With summer around the corner, telehealth outlets and medical spas are going into hyperdrive advertising the sale of semaglutide, the active ingredient in popular weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy.
Recent shortages of the brand-name drugs have opened the door to copycat versions that, while legal, also raise some concerns for consumers, says Kelly Ann Barnes, Northeastern professor of pharmacy law.
The copycat drugs are made by specialized pharmacies known as compounding pharmacies, which are allowed by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to make off-label versions of pharmaceutical products that are in short supply, she says.
But recently the FDA has warned that some compounding pharmacies are producing counterfeit or improperly formulated versions of semaglutide, Barnes says. She urges consumers to exercise caution when shopping around for weight-loss drugs.
