Last week, the Food and Drug Administration seized several hundred counterfeit semaglutide 1mg injection units that were found in the U.S. drug supply. The agency advises any provider who prescribes or treats patients with semaglutide to check the products for those labeled with lot number PAR0362 and serial numbers starting with the digits 51746517. Counterfeits will contain both of these label features, according to manufacturer Novo Nordisk. It is important to note that lot number PAR0362 is an authentic lot number, and the concern is only when that lot number also has the 8 digits mentioned above in the serial number. Images of the counterfeit drug labels and ways to report the counterfeits are available on the manufacturer’s website.
Medication therapy management: Use of glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1) diabetes and weight loss drugs such as semaglutide is surging with total spending in the U.S. increasing from $13.7 billion in 2018 to $71.7 billion in 2023, as published recently in JAMA Network Open. And urgent care providers should be familiar with their features because the chances of seeing a patient in urgent care who has a GLP-1 in their chart is only going to increase. Read more from the JUCM archive: Updates in Weight Management Pharmacotherapy: Essential Knowledge For The Urgent Care Clinician