© Reuters. Kim Gradwell with an Ozempic injection needle at her home in Dudley, North Tyneside, Britain, October 31, 2023. Gradwell, a retired receptionist with type 2 diabetes, was not able to get her prescription for Ozempic filled in July through the country’s
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By Maggie Fick
LONDON (Reuters) – John, a tech executive who has been battling weight gain since his 30s, has a nine-month supply in his refrigerator. Kim Gradwell, a retired receptionist who developed type 2 diabetes nearly 20 years ago, isn’t sure where she’ll find her next dose.
The medicine is Ozempic – designed for type 2 diabetes, a life-threatening condition. It’s so effective at helping people lose weight that supplies of the active ingredient, semaglutide, have run short in countries including Britain and the United States.
The contrast in access sheds light on the scramble for semaglutide in Britain, a country famed for its free public health system, showing how those with money are able to access treatments that run short on the National Health Service (NHS), despite government efforts to prioritise supplies for the NHS.
In July, the British government declared a shortage of semaglutide…
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