"Seven to eight kilograms less in three months." Nausea and aversion to food. Loss of appetite and desire for sweets. Two meals a day", is one of the comments in Facebook groups that have turned into a market selling medicine Ozempica. Some of these groups are "Diabetes without borders", "OZEMPIC - Support group".
"Four weeks, seven kilograms less." I couldn't eat anything, but literally", is another in a series of comments that are continued by those asking what dose you were on.
Photo: Printscreen Facebook
Jer lek Ozempik comes in three doses, but who is it actually intended for?
Graduated pharmacist specialist Dušanka Stefanović Radisavljević told Vreme that the drug Ozempik is intended for people suffering from type 2 diabetes.
"Ozepik is a serious drug, therefore the side effects are serious, that is why it is included in therapy under the supervision of a doctor and for the needs of diabetics." And for the needs of losing weight, public figures and social networks are to blame, which advertised this medicine for something that is not its purpose", explains Stefanović Radisavljević.
He adds that the side effects can be some of the more "harmless" ones such as vomiting, nausea, but also more severe because it is one of the newer drugs, and the effects and side effects are still being monitored, so it is not for use by the general public, but only under the control of doctors. .
Drug shortage
"I'm interested, where do you who sell Ozempik get it, when diabetics who are prescribed it can't get it because it's in short supply. Mom's toe was amputated and Ozempik just regulated her sugar, the wound is healing well and now I can't find it in Novi Sad and its surroundings", asked one of the anonymous members of this group.
Our interlocutor also says that the drug is not always available in pharmacies, and they would like to know why this happens.
"Some redistribution is taking place because probably not enough quantities are ordered, we cannot know that now." You yourself know that it is mostly about the import of medicines. It was not imported in sufficient quantities, and why, how and why the suppliers cannot provide sufficient quantities is beyond our knowledge", says Stefanović Radisavljević.
When it is not available in the pharmacy, and someone suffering from type 2 diabetes needs this medicine, what happens?
Our interlocutor answers that in that situation the patient returns to the doctor, where the doctor must adjust the therapy and find some third way to help the patient.
"Those patients are actually in the worst position because they cannot get what they need and what would help them, and then the therapy has to be changed," Stefanović Radisavljević points out.
Counterfeit and sales
"You can't buy it without a prescription, only the price is accordingly quite different," wrote one of the participants in the discussion, and the photo she publishes with Ozempik in all three doses is repeated in the comments in the Facebook group "Diabetes Without Borders".
The prices that can be noticed in the comments are 100 euros, 10.500 dinars, and someone wrote 20.000 dinars, on which a comment was left: "If you didn't exaggerate, it's a shame to rob people for medicine."
Photo: Printscreen Facebook
In addition to this, it is also written that there are counterfeits of this medicine.
Stefanović Radisavljević explains that, as with all medicines, it is only correct to purchase them in pharmacies.
"Pharmacies are health institutions that deal with the distribution of medicines. There are drugs that have been approved, that have been tested, that are safe for their intended use. And I don't know how to determine everything else, I wouldn't recommend anyone to purchase in that way", concludes our interlocutor.
And one of the members of the Facebook group remarked: "I'm ashamed of what's going on here, this group has turned into an Ozempika flea market."
