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Authorities have seized almost treble the amount of counterfeit weight-loss wonder drug Ozempic already this year than they did in the whole of 2023.
The diabetes medicine has soared in popularity due to its weight-loss benefits, sparking shortages in pharmacies across the country.
This has led pharmacists to warn the public that use of fake versions of the drug could have potentially fatal consequences.
Figures released by the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) show there were 656 units of counterfeit versions of the drug seized in the first five months of this year.
Extra.ie understands that this number has since soared to over 700. That’s compared with 254 units seized in 2023 and just 32 in 2022, as demand increases.
Former Fine Gael TD and pharmacist Kate O’Connell told the Irish Daily Mail she was ‘totally, totally shocked’ to learn how the number had skyrocketed.
She said: ‘You can see that there’s a ramping-up of demand. It’s in black and white with the number of seizures. I’d be very interested to see what the exact make-up of the drugs being seized are. Is it just water being sold as Ozempic or is it something a bit different? It is vital that there is some sort of public information campaign about using something that is fake.
‘You’re injecting yourself here. You’re putting something into your system and you have no idea what it is. It might have the labels and all the bells and whistles on it, but unless you get it through legitimate methods then you have no idea what you’re putting into your body.’
She added: ‘Those figures represent a huge surge and show that there’s a vacuum being filled by illegal sales of things purporting to be Ozempic. It is just so dangerous, and I mean so, so dangerous, to be injecting something into your system that you have no idea about.’
Ms O’Connell also said there could be hidden side effects of the fake drugs that might not be known until it is too late.
She said: ‘You have no idea how a false injectable is going to behave when it goes into your body. Is the damage it is doing dose-dependent? Is it cumulative? If you use it for four months is there a cumulative toxicity there? The impact might not be seen for a long time and it might present at a different time for liver or kidney function, for example, when you go in for a check down the line.
‘It is not an overreaction to say taking this sort of product could be fatal. There is just no knowing what it will do to you.’
In addition to the counterfeit seizures, there have been 136 units of legitimate Ozempic seized at ports and airports in the first three months of the year, which was destined for the black market.
The figure for Ozempic shots confiscated for the whole of 2023 was 286. The HPRA has long warned of the dangers of taking the fake versions of semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic, and has urged people not to order it online.
The Mail has found numerous Irish and UK websites offering Ozempic for sale.
Manufactured by Novo Nordisk, Ozempic contains semaglutide, the first in a new generation of anti-obesity drugs which work to suppress appetite by mimicking the hormone GLP-1. It was initially used to treat type 2 diabetes before being repurposed as a weight-loss drug, which is given at a higher dose.
However, scammers as well as bad actors saw the potential to make quick money from the huge demand for the drug.
In 2023, 169 websites, e-commerce or social media pages advertising or supplying semaglutide were removed or amended by the HPRA.
A further 144 pages have been removed in 2024 to date. Bad actors are offering the discounted obesity drugs without a prescription – and some are even cheaper when customers pay using cryptocurrency.
Along with fake websites and phishing emails, cyber-criminals are also using popular websites such as Facebook and Craigslist to spread weight-loss treatment scams.
Scammers have created fake profiles to advertise discounted drugs on Facebook Marketplace, with many fooling unsuspecting shoppers by claiming to have surplus stock or foreign Ozempic alternatives requiring no prescriptions.
Weight-loss drugs work by mimicking GLP-1, a hormone made naturally in the body that helps slow the passage of food through the stomach, which makes people feel less hungry. It also alters the brain’s appetite regulation so that users feel satiated despite eating less.
They also don’t experience cravings for treat foods.
Celebrities who have admitted to using weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic include Oprah Winfrey, Elon Musk , Sharon Osbourne, Chelsea Handler and Robbie Williams.
Ms Winfrey revealed in an interview with People magazine last December that she uses weight-loss medication ‘as a tool to manage not yo-yoing’.
She did not reveal which weight-loss drug she used, although many speculated that she had got a prescription for Ozempic.
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