The fever of the compounded weight-loss pens
Guests: Bruno Geloneze, endocrinologist and researcher at Unicamp, and Henderson Fürst, director of the Brazilian Society of Bioethics. Last week, a Federal Police operation targeted an illegal scheme for producing pens used for weight loss. In Brazil, only one laboratory is authorized to sell Tirzepatide (the active ingredient in Mounjaro) on a large scale. However, the medicine can be compounded in pharmacies, allowing doctors to adjust the exact dose for patients with specific needs. In the scheme investigated by the Federal Police, the doctor produced Tirzepatide on a large scale, without following the rules established by Anvisa. The high demand for compounded weight-loss pens has an explanation: for this type of medication, the price can be half the value of the original drugs, whose patents are held by large manufacturers. In this episode, Victor Boyadjian speaks with endocrinologist Bruno Geloneze and lawyer Henderson Fürst. An expert in endocrinology and metabolic diseases and a researcher at Unicamp's Center for Research in Obesity and Comorbidities, Geloneze explains the differences between laboratory-made and compounded medications. He details the risks of using weight-loss pens without knowing their exact origin and is emphatic: what's cheap can turn out to be expensive. Henderson, director of the Brazilian Society of Bioethics, discusses how a judgment by the Superior Court of Justice (STJ) in the coming weeks could change the patent status of weight-loss pens in Brazil. Former president of the OAB Bioethics Commission, Henderson talks about the impacts of ending patents for this type of medication and explains which Anvisa rules for the production and consumption of the pens are currently in force.
Original title: A febre das canetas emagrecedoras manipuladas
Original description: Convidados: Bruno Geloneze, endocrinologista e pesquisador da Unicamp, e Henderson Fürst, diretor d…