Volume 7, Issue 9 p. 941-946
CLINICAL PHARMACY FORUM

Legal, safety, and practical considerations of compounded injectable semaglutide

Allison Spitery Pharm.D.

Allison Spitery Pharm.D.

Department of Pharmacy, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, Michigan, USA

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Mary J. Elder Pharm.D.

Mary J. Elder Pharm.D.

Department of Pharmacy, Michigan Medicine, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

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Nada Farhat Pharm.D.

Nada Farhat Pharm.D.

Department of Pharmacy, Michigan Medicine, Ann Arbor, Michigan, USA

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Insaf Mohammad Pharm.D.

Insaf Mohammad Pharm.D.

Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA

Department of Pharmacy, Corewell Health Dearborn Hospital, Dearborn, Michigan, USA

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Alison Lobkovich Pharm.D.

Corresponding Author

Alison Lobkovich Pharm.D.

Department of Pharmacy, Henry Ford Health System, Detroit, Michigan, USA

Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Wayne State University, Detroit, Michigan, USA

Correspondence

Alison Lobkovich, Eugene Applebaum College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences, Wayne State University, 259 Mack Avenue, Detroit, MI 48201, USA.

Email: [email protected]

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First published: 29 June 2024
Citations: 1

Abstract

The use of long-acting incretin-based therapies, such as semaglutide, has increased in recent years due to their benefits for glycemic control in diabetes, cardiovascular risk reduction, and weight management. Ongoing drug shortages have led clinicians and patients to seek alternative routes for accessing these therapies, including the use of non-United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved compounded incretin-based therapy. This review paper describes the legal, safety, and practical considerations of compounded injectable semaglutide for diabetes and weight management. While this paper is specific to injectable semaglutide, the concepts described apply to all compounded injectable incretin-based therapies. While there is a general recommendation against the use of non–FDA-approved compounded incretin analogs, if clinicians elect to use compounded incretin-based therapy, the potential harms and benefits for each patient must be considered, and patients must be properly educated on the correct administration of the product they receive.

CONFLICT OF INTEREST STATEMENT

The authors declare no conflicts of interest.

DATA AVAILABILITY STATEMENT

Data sharing not applicable to this article as no datasets were generated or analysed during the current study.