Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Some Compounding Pharmacies Are Tweaking GLP-1 Recipes To Sidestep FDA Ban, Study Finds
Becker's Hospital Review: GLP-1 Compounders Find Loophole In FDA Crackdown, Study Suggests
Some compounding pharmacies are making slight tweaks to the composition of their GLP-1s to sidestep an FDA ban on copying approved semaglutide and tirzepatide products, suggest the findings of a study published July 17 in JAMA Health Forum. Surging demand for GLP-1s led the FDA to add semaglutide, tirzepatide and liraglutide to its shortage list between 2022 and 2023, fueling a robust market for compounded versions sold through weight-loss clinics, medical spas, and telehealth platforms. However, the FDA has since declared the shortages resolved and banned compounders from producing exact copies of the branded drugs. (Bean, 7/20)
The Wall Street Journal: They Used GLP-1s To Lose Weight. They Ended Up In Treatment For Anorexia.
When Molly Taylor started taking Mounjaro in the fall of 2024, she marveled at the speed of results. She wasn’t overweight, but she hadn’t been comfortable in her body. Now, she could eat whatever she wanted, just in smaller portions, and people were complimenting her looks. She no longer felt self-conscious. Then her mindset began to shift. (O'Brien, 7/20)
In other pharma and tech news —
Stat: Ronald Fischer, A Most-Wanted Fugitive, Appears To Have Been Working In Biotech
One of Rhode Island’s most-wanted fugitives — a former doctor convicted of sexual assault but on the run for 20 years — appears to have been living a secret life as a biotech executive. (Feuerstein, 7/20)
The New York Times: This Lifesaving Genetics Tool Works Best If You’re White
The National Institutes of Health recently announced a remarkable achievement: the world’s largest database of human genomes, a repository of information that the agency says will help usher in a new era in personalized medicine. Scientists are already developing clinical tools and techniques based on genomic information gathered from the agency’s All of Us program. ... But there’s a glaring problem: The tools were trained overwhelmingly on the DNA of people of European descent, so they often fail to accurately assess risks for anyone else. (Baumgaertner Nunn, 7/20)
CIDRAP: The Resistance Gene That’s Causing ‘Nightmares’ In US Hospitals
In a well-publicized case in 2016 that alerted many Americans to the rising threat of drug-resistant bacterial infections, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and health officials in Nevada reported a bacterial infection in a 70-year-old woman that was resistant to all 26 of the antibiotics available to her doctors. (Dall, 7/20)
