Since they debuted, There is a high demand for injectable GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic. In addition to treating diabetes and obesity, these drugs have beneficial effects on the cardiovascular system and there is evidence that they can reduce addiction and even protect against certain types of cancer, which has only further increased their effectiveness. But for people who hate needles, these drugs have a glaring, obvious disadvantage: they require a weekly injection.
However, there is now a growing number of advertisements for oral counterfeit GLP-1 drugs on platforms such as Instagram and Facebook. After brand-name GLP-1 drugs ran out in 2022, a booming industry of “connection” pharmacies and telehealth clinics offering copies of drugs emerged, which they are legally allowed to do when shortages occur. However, unlike the pharmaceutical giants producing the original products, these virtual clinics and specialty pharmacies offer oral versions of semaglutide and tirzepatide for weight loss. They offer lozenges, tablets, pills, cheek gels, drops and dissolving strips, promising to deliver the same dynamic ingredients as the company’s drugs, without injections.
That’s a tempting prospect, especially since these drugs are offered at a fraction of the price of their brand-name counterparts and are often shipped overnight after the potential patient completes a miniature online questionnaire. A month’s supply of semaglutide lozenges with added vitamin B6 Telehealth startup Strutfor example, it costs $149 without insurance, compared to Wegovy’s price of more than $1,000.
“As a pharmacist, I can appreciate the excitement about the increase in oral semaglutide because it is an easier route than injectables,” says Melinda Lee, a pharmacist who runs the pharmaceutical packaging company Parcel Health and the drug’s GLP-1 availability information database. Oral versions also do not need to be refrigerated like injections, making them easier to ship and store. While Lee understands the enthusiasm, she remains skeptical. While taking the drug orally may be more attractive than a needle, for GLP-1 there is no evidence yet of their effectiveness, he says.
Unlike the brand-name drugs Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound, the combination versions have not been rigorously tested in clinical trials and have not been approved by the Food and Drug Administration. And although by law they must contain the same dynamic ingredient as the medicine they mimic, these oral medicines may not work as well as injectable medicines.
Maria Daniela Hurtado Andrade, an obesity specialist at the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Florida, says she does not recommend oral GLP-1 medications to her patients. “I don’t take them into account, I don’t prescribe them and I don’t support them,” he says.