STAT+: Pharmalittle: We’re reading about a closing loophole for importing meds, European competitiveness, and more

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As of next month, a loophole that allows Americans to personally import their medications is closing, The Wall Street Journal tells us. On Oct. 22, a rule goes into effect requiring medications mailed from abroad to go through a customs process requiring a licensed customs broker and a financial guarantee — a bar few individual mail-order prescriptions have ever had to clear. The U.S. government is trying to crack down on illegal contraband that it says comes into the country through low-value foreign shipments that do not pay tariffs or submit data for tracking.

A sizable number of people taking drugs like Ozempic have no medical reason to do so, The New York Times points out, citing a new study. The analysis of the medical records of more than 92 million U.S. adults identified more than 1.1 million who were taking GLP-1 medications without any record of an issue that would make them eligible, like obesity or diabetes. While the researchers did not examine why people took these medications, doctors said many people are probably using them simply to shed some pounds or in the hope they might deliver other benefits.

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