Ozempic isn’t the next big thing — it’s the big thing. However, with its increasing popularity, the medication is not only attracting patients hoping to shed some pounds, but also pharmaceutical imitators vying for extra bucks.
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Just this week, the World Health Organization released an alert about three falsified batches of Ozempic in Brazil — and a warning about counterfeit weight-loss and diabetes management medications in various countries. The Food and Drug Administration has also warned consumers to look out for fake versions of Ozempic, and Novo Nordisk — the company FDA-approved to manufacture Ozempic — has filed a total of 21 legal actions against entities for engaging in harmful and misleading practices related to the marketing and sales of alleged “semaglutide” products. Additionally, cybersecurity firm BrandShield this year took down more than 250 websites that sold fake versions of Ozempic or other GLP-1 drugs used as weight-loss and diabetes treatments.
Ozempic and other GLP-1 agonists can aid in blood sugar and weight management and function as medical treatments for for people with diabetes, obesity and some other health conditions. Semaglutide is a type of of GLP-1 agonist treatment, and is used in Ozempic.
With fake versions of Ozempic increasing in number, distinguishing between what’s authentic and counterfeit can be fuzzy at times. To help you see through the scams, here are five questions to ask yourself about your medication.
[READ Side Effects of the New Weight Loss Drugs: Are They Safe?]
1. Where Did You Buy Your Ozempic?
The best way to ensure your Ozempic is authentic is to first make sure you get it from a reputable source. Dr. Antoneo Pashaj, a regional medical director at kidney-care company Strive Health who frequently counsels patients on obesity prevention, says that — as with many other medications — this means seeking a prescription from your doctor and filling it at a licensed pharmacy such as CVS, Walgreens or Rite-Aid.
If you acquired Ozempic online or from a compounding pharmacy without first seeing your doctor, don’t be afraid to check in with them after.
By letting your doctor know about online medications you are taking, you are assisting them in making informed decisions about your treatment going forward. They can also help you avoid potential complications of the weight-loss drug, or treat any that have already occurred.
“I think there’s this stigma that if your doctor didn’t prescribe (Ozempic), you (shouldn’t) disclose it,” Pashaj says. “No provider is going to get mad at you or upset at you for having them review it. We’d be happy to.”
[READ: Mounjaro for Weight Loss: What Is Mounjaro and How Does it Work?]
2. How Is Your Ozempic Packaged?
How your Ozempic is packaged can be a give-away as to whether it is authentic or counterfeit. Correctly spelled labels and a design layout that matches the typical Novo Nordisk (which is the company that produces Ozempic) brand are green flags, Pashaj says. Product labeling red flags may include:
— Open seals
— Misspellings
— Funky colors
— Poor print quality
— Unusual fonts
Misspellings may be particularly troublesome, Pashaj adds.
“Gosh, if they can’t spell the word, how do you trust the quality of the medication that you’re about to inject in your body? I certainly wouldn’t inject anything if the spelling isn’t correct,” he says.
3. Does Your Ozemic Have the Novo Nordisk Label?
Authentic Ozempic should have the Novo Nordisk label on its packaging. Novo Nordisk is the only FDA-approved company to sell weight-loss medicines containing semaglutide in the United States.
[READ: How to Calculate Weight Loss Percentage.]
4. What Does Your Ozempic Pen and Needle Look Like?
After inspecting the exterior packaging and opening your medication, you’ll want to assess what’s inside — which should be a semaglutide injector, or pen, and needle.
“That’s the first clue — they have to be given by injection,” says Dr. Mir Ali, a board-certified bariatric surgeon and the medical director of MemorialCare Surgical Weight Loss Center at Orange Coast Medical Center in Fountain Valley, California.
From there, you’ll want to make sure no seals have been broken or tampered with. And next, you can assess a few design and packaging nuances that the FDA says set authentic Ozempic injectors apart from impersonators:
1. The color of the needle’s inner coveringYour Ozempic needle should be confined within two plastic casings — one inner and one outer covering. According to the FDA, a genuine Ozempic needle will have a transparent inner covering, whereas a counterfeit needle may have a transparent blue inner covering.
2. The color and layout of the needle’s tabAccording to the FDA, a genuine Ozempic needle is sealed with a white and blue paper tab. The white part of the tab is on top and the blue is on the side, where it extends down over the needle. The blue part of the tab should be imprinted with the needle lot number — and no other text. If there is text other than the lot number, this is likely a counterfeit needle.
Patients should also avoid known counterfeit labeling — per a December 2023 warning from the FDA, several counterfeit Ozempic medications have been found under lot labels NAR0074 and serial number 430834149057.
3. The registered trademark on the top of the needle’s tabAccording to the FDA, a genuine Ozempic needle will display the registered trademark NovoFine® Plus, whereas some counterfeit needles have been found to display the NovoFine® trademark, sans “Plus.” The trademark should be in blue writing on the white part, or top, of the tab.
4. The description on the body of the pen The pen should display the words Ozempic® (semaglutide) injection “semaglutide” and a dosage number that matches that of your prescription.
Using this list may help give you determine if your medication is — or isn’t — genuine Ozempic. However, you don’t have to rely on it completely. If you feel unsure, Pashaj says not to hesitate in calling your doctor or pharmacist to seek further clarity.
5. Is Your Ozempic Temperature Controlled?
One prescription of Ozempic typically lasts four weeks — that is, if it is stored properly. Proper storage of Ozempic requires the drug to be kept refrigerated both during the four weeks you are using it — and before you start. Whether you pick it up at an in-person pharmacy or receive a package in the mail, your Ozempic should arrive cool.
In person, it’s relatively easy for your pharmacist to hand you a temperature-controlled medication from a medical fridge. But via online delivery, it may be trickier to keep it cool. If your Ozempic is not packaged with any temperature control items — like using styrofoam packaging or cold packs — Ali says that this could be a warning sign that it is not authentic — or that even if it was, it won’t be for much longer.
“If they’re not coming in some sort of a protection from the temperature, that’s another sign that they may not be getting what they’re paying for,” Ali says. “Once the medication reaches room temperature, it’s only good for a few days or a few weeks depending on the formula. If you get medication that’s already achieved room temperature, it won’t be good for that whole four-week period.”
[READ: Early Signs of Diabetes]
Risks of Counterfeit Ozempic
At this point, you may be wondering if it’s worth it to spend all this time and effort verifying your Ozempic’s authenticity. Well, according to doctors and health agencies, it is. Depending on their formula, a fake version of Ozempic could be too weak to help you reach your health goals or too strong that it induces new health problems. It could also contain unknown harmful ingredients.
Potential risks can come from fake medications if they:
Contain the wrong formula
Because counterfeit semaglutides are not FDA-approved, they may not contain the active ingredients you need to lose weight — at all or at the right doses — or contain additional, harmful ingredients that could hurt your body.
Often, Pashaj says, fake Ozempic contains a lot of water — which will dilute the medication and work against your health goals.
The WHO warned on June 20 that using falsified Ozempic may subject people to an “unpredictable range of health risks or complications” from potential hidden ingredients or adverse health effects related to unmanaged blood glucose levels or weight. And according to Novo Nordisk, testing of drugs that marked themselves as “semaglutide” revealed up to 24% of impurities.
Contain the wrong doses
Fake versions of Ozempic may contain the wrong dose of the drug — be this too low or too high. Too high dose can make you more vulnerable to the side effects of the drug, such as nausea, or even mess with your blood pressure to a dangerous extent.
In some cases, it could induce risks like a hypoglycemic episode, or severe drop in blood sugar.
Target the wrong patients
Ozempic is FDA-approved for people who need to lose weight for medical reasons — specifically those with obesity who have a body mass index, or BMI, of 30 or more, or for people who are overweight with a BMI of 27 or more who also have at least one weight-related ailment. But if you scroll through Instagram, you may notice actors and influencers who are perceivably thin marketing the drug. People who do not medically qualify for Ozempic may be at even higher risk for adverse effects like hypoglycemic episodes from taking counterfeit versions of the drug.
“My big concern is that these companies are going to prey on certain individuals who want to look ‘good,'” Pashaj says. “We’re such a culture driven by looks, and you see that in commercials, Instagram feeds and Facebook feeds.”
Another concern is that if too many people who do not qualify for Ozempic are using the drug, they can take supply away from those who are in need, Ali says.
Unfortunately, while people who do not meet Ozempic qualifications should not be able to receive a drug via doctor’s prescription, they could have an easier time buying from a company marketing a counterfeit version — which is already breaking rules to begin with.
“People get desperate,” Pashaj says. “They want to look a certain way and they’re willing to do whatever it takes to get there — and it comes at a cost.”
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How to Spot Fake Ozempic originally appeared on usnews.com
