A SHORTAGE of the weight-loss drug Zepbound is driving customers to extremes to secure the coveted treatment — but relief may be right around the corner.
Zepbound was released in November as a competitor to the hugely popular weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy.
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Despite the once-a-week shot costing upward of $1,000 a month, Zepbound has become another go-to option to quickly drop weight, according to NBC.
But now Zepbound has become as hard to find as its competitors.
The FDA added Zepbound to its list of drug shortages earlier this month, specifying that 5 mg and 12 mg doses currently have “limited availability.”
But that has not stopped some determined customers from going the extra mile to secure their next dose of the highly effective treatment.
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Dozens of people have shared the challenges they have overcome to track down the hard-to-find drug in a Reddit group dedicated to talking about everything Zepbound.
“I drove 5 hours round trip last night to St. Cloud and Alexandria MN,” one person wrote in said in a Reddit thread.
The user went on to explain that they were able to get two boxes of the medicine, but not at the dosage they wanted.
“Would’ve rather gotten two boxes of 7.5 but figured I should take what I can find,” they said.
The customer said they did not mind driving several hours or spending hundreds of dollars to get their hands on the medication.
“I was already two hours out of the city, so figured why not get both,” they added.
“$1,100 total but oh well,” they said.
WHAT IS ZEPBOUND?
Sold under the brand name Zepbound, the active chemical ingredient in the medication is tirzepatide.
Tirzepatide works by suppressing a person’s appetite and making them feel fuller, faster, according to UCHealth.
$1,100 total but oh well.
Zepbound user
Mounjaro is another medication with the same active ingredient that can be used as an “off-label” prescription for weight loss, though the medication’s intended use is to combat diabetes.
Competitor weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy depend on a different primary active ingredient, semaglutide.
All four new medications can result in significant weight loss, with some studies showing participants lose an average of 20% or more of their body weight while taking the drug.
Shortages of Zepbound, Ozempic, and other similar drugs have been making headlines for months.
DESPERATE FOR MORE
Although the Reddit group serves as a community to share information about the medication and the difficulties in finding it, it has also become a way for customers to track down refills of the hard-to-find drug.
Users are urged to specify their dosage, location, and pharmacy before responding to a post in the group — and many do.
“Just filled my 2.5 mg today at Naperville Costco, but my script was already with them and I was just waiting,” one post read.
“They don’t queue, you have to basically just call all the time to see if it’s available and I got lucky today. It was the only mg they had,” they wrote.
Luckily, the FDA says that the shortage should be over by the end of April.
