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It’s Shockingly Easy to Buy Off-Brand Ozempic Online, Even If You Don’t Need It

Weight-loss drugs like Ozempic are in shortage, and telehealth startups are selling “compounded” versions. A WIRED investigation looks at how easy it is to order these meds online.

When making the orders, I was truthful while filling out the intake questionnaires, with one exception, made deliberately to see if the companies would insist upon verification: I adjusted my weight upwards on the forms to ensure my BMI came out to 27, the FDA having authorized semaglutide as a weight-loss treatment from this point and up. The closest thing WIRED got to an answer on patient numbers was from Hims’ chief medical officer, Pat Carroll: “Since launching a couple of months ago, we’ve done thousands of visits,” he says. It’s very intentional policy.” Brunner has expressed frustration about how some coverage of the rise of compounding GLP-1s conflates unlicensed pharmacies peddling counterfeit drugs or research peptides with credentialed operations following proper guidelines.

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