Sherkow noted that compounding pharmacies play a vital role for patients who need them, but they are not without some risks.

Using an analogy, he said, "The vast majority of restaurants, with some - but little - supervision, handle poorly prepared food that can easily poison us." . "They do it every day, millions of times a day. A compounding pharmacy operates in a similar space."

But endocrinologists and obesity experts reiterated that they would not prescribe compound semaglutide. For them, the risk is bigger than a bout of food poisoning.

Stanford says that for all of her patients, she asks herself, "' Can I be comfortable? 'If I'm not comfortable with it myself, then I don't need to prescribe it to someone else."

She adds, "I know we're frustrated that we can't get GLP-1 [glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists, the class of drugs that semaglutide belongs to], but just because these are desperate times doesn't mean we use desperate measures."

Correa added that a patient asked him about compound semaglutide for sale last week. But not knowing exactly what's in it and how it works is too risky for the patient and him as a doctor.

In one hypothetical, Correa said, "You're treating 100 patients, all of whom are doing well with the combination drug you recommend." One of them had a problem." . "That's it. That's the end of your career."