CLEVELAND — Ameerah Herbert has had a lifelong struggle with her weight.

“I was significantly overweight. My BMI was in the obese category. I’ve been overweight my whole, entire life. I’m an emotional eater. I work stressful jobs,” Herbert said.

She was planning a birthday trip for herself in February of this year and wanted to try something new.

“My last fat birthday,” she said.  

She’d heard about new weight loss drugs on the market.

“I was looking for availability, affordability. It’s quite difficult to get the name brand medication from several pharmacies right now,” Herbert said.

The popularity of some brand name weight loss drugs like Mounjaro and Wegovy has put them on the FDA shortage list and has made them unavailable at some pharmacies. The shortage allows compounding pharmacies to make similar drugs using the same active ingredients.

Herbert decided to go to the Cleveland Health Group, a medical clinic that offers a weight loss program. They’re able to obtain tirzepatide, the active ingredient in Mounjaro, through a compounding pharmacy.

“I have a weekly accountability appointment. I enjoy the fact that I go weekly. I know someone else besides myself is looking at the scale,” Herbert said.

David Burke is pharmacist and the executive director of the Ohio Pharmacists Association. He has a warning about obtaining weight loss medications from a compounding pharmacy.

“They’re getting drugs that are related but not the same,” Burke said. "While the outcome might be similar, there are concerns about purity, concentration and consistency,” he said.

“You think you’re getting .2 mg of something and you may not be. And your first shot may be different than your second shot,” Burke said.

Because compounding pharmacies don’t sell brand name drugs, they're able to sell them at a much lower cost than a traditional pharmacy.

“This isn’t an inert drug. It’s a drug, it affects your blood sugar. There’s a lot of concern of oversight. I can’t blame people for shopping for best service. It’s expensive, but you could be putting your health at risk,” Burke said.

He said a little due diligence and asking the right questions could go a long way.

“Where did this come from? Was there testing done? Once this goes into the body, it’s not coming out. I hope that’d be more important that your wallet. It’s your health,” Burke said.

Gabriel Reider is the owner of the clinic that Herbert goes to for her weight loss program.

“Insurance companies are not covering it. If they do cover it, they cover it for a month or two with a coupon. People are starting to see success, and then they go to the pharmacy to fill their prescription and it’s $1,500. Very few people can afford $1,500 a month,” Reider said.

Reider said he’s confident in the compounding pharmacy he uses to fill his prescriptions.

“We know there’s good compounding pharmacies and we know there’s not so good compounding pharmacies. We trust our pharmacy. We know what we’re getting. We know where it’s sourced from and we know it’s safe,” Reider said.

Herbert has lost 82 pounds since February. She’s glad she’s found something that works. She said it’s greatly improved her quality of life.

“I’m no longer being food focused,” Herbert said.

But she said it takes more than just the medications and puts in additional work to lose and keep the weight off.

“The meds work just as if you go to the gym. You can’t out-train a bad diet. It works if you put in the work,” she said.