Since Ozempic and Wegovy burst onto the market in 2021 after gaining FDA approval for weight loss, 1 in 8 Americans have tried the pricey medications to cut pounds and overcome fights with obesity, according to a Kaiser Family Foundation study. The drugs utilize a key ingredient—semaglutide—that has worked so effectively that there have been shortages of Ozempic and Wegovy across the country.

Those eager to utilize the medication have turned elsewhere—to compounded semaglutide treatment, advertised as a combined version of the key ingredient found in Ozempic and Wegovy with vitamins, saline or other additives included.

But doctors and medical professionals are advising caution about the non-FDA-approved compounded versions of weight loss drugs, offered at a fraction of the price of their brand name counterparts, even while demand soars. The compounded versions of these drugs, which help lower appetite and have resulted in major weight loss in many users, have seen scant testing.

Doctors can prescribe compounded treatments, but in the Dallas-Fort Worth area many medical aesthetic spas and telehealth clinics have responded to the growing demand for compounded semaglutide.

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