Fake batches of Novo Nordisk’s diabetes drug Ozempic have been circulating amid soaring demand for the medicine that can be used for weight loss, the World Health Organisation said on Thursday.
The organisation said three fake batches were identified in Brazil and the UK in October last year and in the US in December.
It is the first time the global health body has issued an official warning, although it has been monitoring growing reports of phoney semaglutide, as Ozempic is known generically, since 2022.
The counterfeit products could harm patients’ health because they do not contain the correct ingredients, and in some cases they may even contain a different drug – such as insulin – which could be dangerous when taken incorrectly, the WHO said.
Ozempic is a diabetes treatment; semaglutide is sold for obesity under the brand name Wegovy.
Fake weight-loss drugs are a growing concern as demand for the medicine feeds a ballooning grey market.
Lose weight the healthy way - in pictures
In the US, regulations allow compounding pharmacies to sell copy versions of the drugs because they are in shortage.
Novo and its US rival Eli Lilly have sought to link the compounded medicines with the possibility of outright counterfeits.
Lilly said on Thursday that some compounded medicine contained a different chemical than the Food and Drug Administration-approved medicine.
Patients should avoid “unfamiliar or unverified sources, such as those that may be found online", the WHO said.
