Weight loss drugs may become harder to get. What does that mean for patients?
On Point with Meghna Chakrabarti
WBUR
4.3 • 3.9K Ratings
🗓️ 28 February 2025
⏱️ 51 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
When the FDA declared an Ozempic and Wegovy shortage, business boomed for pharmacies making cheaper, off-brand versions of the weight loss drugs. Now, the FDA is clamping down.
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| 0:43.2 | Michelle Cook did not have a history of being overweight until she turned 47. |
| 0:47.9 | When menopause started, the weight started to come on. Despite eating well, working out, it was just not coming off. |
| 0:53.0 | She gained about 40 pounds leading to high cholesterol and |
| 0:57.4 | blood pressure. So her doctor recommended that she do what millions of Americans are doing. Go on a |
| 1:03.3 | weight loss drug. So in January of last year, I started on Zepbound and then of course ran into a shortage and you couldn't get |
| 1:14.6 | the Zep bound anymore. |
| 1:16.1 | And the drug was working really well for Michelle, so she didn't know what to do about the shortage. |
| 1:22.5 | And all of a sudden there's a freak out moment, oh my gosh, am I going to have to stop? |
| 1:26.5 | I'm not going to be able to get the medication. |
| 1:28.3 | But when I spoke to my doctor and they said that they could have it compounded locally |
| 1:34.3 | and I could get it from their office, I had no qualms about taking the compounded version, especially |
| 1:41.3 | at my doctor's recommendation and them obtaining it, it wasn't like |
| 1:45.9 | I was going to some obscure pharmacy I found online and just ordering it. So, you know, being that it was |
| 1:52.3 | arranged with my doctor, I trusted the process. And I didn't find any difference whatsoever between |
| 1:58.8 | the Zepbound and the compounded version. Michelle's insurance did not cover the Zepbound and the compounded version. |
| 2:01.5 | Michelle's insurance did not cover the Zepbound. |
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