Well, fuck.
Just been informed by my GP practice's pharmacist that there's now a national shortage of Rybelsus, aka Semaglutide, my most effective diabetes medication, that's likely to last into 2024. Influencers have been boosting it as a weight loss drug (it's the same drug—in tablet form—as Ozembic/Wegovy) and private clinics are buying up all the stock for image-conscious idiots, depriving diabetics of access.
(I have 12 weeks in the cupboard, then I may lose access for months.)
Medications that there is a shortage of? (I'm curious whether you'd think the same about any medications that don't have a shortage.)
Sure there are; usually the duty of care towards patient, when exercised well, is sufficient to prevent harm from that. I wonder if you see any cases other than shortage when that's not the case.
BTW. Anti-obesity is definitely not aesthetic: standard strategies of reducing obesity decrease all-cause mortality noticeably (I don't know if someone studies effects of _this_ way of decreasing it already.)
@robryk @cstross TBH, there <are> some reasons for off-label prescription, such as when an indication has been approved by an appropirate authority elsewhere, but when we are talking about medication that can undergo scarcity in such a way and it's not for "aesthetic use", definitely.