In his weekly column, Times Free Press’ Mark Kennedy recently wrote, “In the beginning, the thought of eating much of anything made me feel sick. I ate a lot of instant grits and saltines. I cut out all red meats and most dairy products.”
Kennedy, diagnosed with type II diabetes, began taking the pill version of semaglutide, a medication prescribed for diabetes, about a year ago. Since then, he says, “I lost about 30 pounds and then gained 10 pounds back when the appetite-suppressing effect wore off some.”
One of the side effects of semaglutide is weight loss, which has led to some people without diabetes using the drug off-label for weight loss alone — celebrities in particular, as the medication can be costly.
The Week magazine reported earlier this year that, due to demand, semaglutide, sold under the brand name Ozempic, was in short supply.
Chirag Patel, managing pharmacist at Hixson Pharmacy, says that while the pharmacy did experience a shortage earlier this year, he was assured by the wholesale distributor that it was the result of a manufacturing change — not demand. Now, he says that the issue has been resolved, and he is no longer seeing a shortage of the medication at Hixson Pharmacy.