A new investigation has found that many online pharmacies selling semaglutide, the active ingredient in weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovee, are doing so illegally.
the study, Released on Friday in journal According to a study published in the journal JAMA Network Open, last summer, researchers used a search engine to search for “websites advertising semaglutide without a prescription” and found that 42.27 percent of the online pharmacies that came up “belonged to illegal pharmacy operations.”
“This qualitative study found that semaglutide products are being actively sold without a prescription by illegitimate online pharmacies, with sellers shipping unregistered, counterfeit products,” the study said. “Two of the websites evaluated contained: [Food and Drug Administration (FDA)] “Warning letter regarding illegal sales of unapproved and misbranded semaglutide”
Tim McKee, an author of the report and a professor at the University of California, San Diego, said people buying anti-obesity drugs online face “serious consumer risks” of receiving counterfeit, ineffective and potentially dangerous medicines.
The study coincides with a warning from the World Health Organisation (WHO) in June that counterfeit versions of semaglutide had been found and sold in various countries.
The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a medical product alert in June, warning that counterfeit versions of the diabetes treatment semaglutide were being circulated in various countries.
“WHO advises medical experts, regulators and the public. [to] “Please be vigilant against these counterfeit medicines,” Dr. Yukiko Nakatani, WHO’s assistant director-general for access to medicines and health products, said in a statement. “We call on stakeholders to stop using suspicious medicines and report them to the relevant authorities.”
Manufacturers are struggling to keep up with demand for obesity drugs that can cost up to $1,300 a month, which has led to more people turning to online pharmacies to look for them and fuelled a rise in “counterfeit” products, the study said.
McKee added that the rise in potentially illegal online sales is also due to insurance plans that don’t cover injectable drugs and patients whose doctors don’t write prescriptions for the drugs — Medicare won’t pay for them if they’re prescribed for weight loss, according to research.
McKee and his colleagues tested six samples of semaglutide obtained from various online pharmacies, and found that at least two pharmacies had received warning letters from the Food and Drug Administration for illegally selling misbranded semaglutide.
The study also found that the medications purchased online contained up to 39 percent more semaglutide than listed on the drug label. Taking too much of the drug can cause nausea, vomiting, a dangerous drop in blood sugar and make you feel unwell, according to the FDA.
Pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly Announced in June The company has filed multiple lawsuits against medical spas, wellness centers and other entities that use unapproved products similar to its weight-loss drugs.
