London, Nov 7
Danish pharma giant Novo Nordisk has said it is aware of at least 10 deaths and 100 hospitalisations linked to compounded versions of semaglutide -- the active ingredient in popular diabetes and obesity drugs Ozempic and Wegovy.
The company’s chief financial officer Karsten Munk Knudsen said that the deaths and hospitalisations, recorded in the last two years, were reported in the US Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) adverse event reporting database for semaglutide.
While the reports are submitted by doctors, patients, drugmakers, and others, they often lack key details. These also do not establish the cause of death.
According to the US FDA, a drug may be compounded for a patient in cases where a patient with an allergy to a certain dye needs a separate medication, or people who cannot swallow a tablet or capsule.
Such drugs are also made by copying the brand-name medicines that are in short supply. The drugs are typically made by combining, mixing, or altering the ingredients to meet demand.
However, these drugs are not FDA-approved.