Topline
Eleven people in Lebanon reported dangerously low blood sugar, including one person who was hospitalized, after taking what public health officials determined was a suspected counterfeit version of popular weight loss drug Ozempic.
Officials in Lebanon believe that counterfeit Ozempic caused 11 cases of hypoglycemia, or … [+]
Key Facts
A total of eleven people in Lebanon reported experiencing hypoglycemia, or low blood sugar—which is a possible side effect for the drug if it is taken alongside others that lower blood sugar, such as insulin.
Public health officials in Lebanon said the doses taken by the patients were different from the doses contained in legitimate Ozempic pens, Reuters reported.
After exploding in popularity over the last year, drug manufacturers have struggled to keep up with demand for weight loss drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro.
A spokesperson for Novo Nordisk, the manufacturer of Ozempic and Wegovy, told Forbes the company was aware of counterfeit drugs in the supply chain in Lebanon and the Middle East.
The manufacturer said it was working with a third party firm to monitor illegal online offers, as well as conducting physical investigations to “identify the original manufacturer of the counterfeit products to ensure we can report this to the authorities for their enforcement.”
Key Background
Counterfeit Ozempic was first reported in U.S. pharmacies in June, and has since been found in Europe, the Middle East and Nigeria. Law enforcement in the U.K. have also arrested counterfeiters selling the drug on Facebook and other social media sites. Britain’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency has since reported it seized 369 suspected counterfeit Ozempic pens since January. In the U.S., the FDA has compiled 38 reports of counterfeit semaglutide, the generic name for the drug marketed as Ozempic and Wegovy. Of those reports, 25 listed having “serious” side effects, including death. Some of the counterfeit doses contained insulin glargine, Novo Nordisk said. Insulin glargine is a long-acting insulin, which can have dangerous side effects including hypoglycemia if taken by non-diabetics.
Tangent
Novo Nordisk has since announced it would work with the FDA to crack down on counterfeit doses making their way into the U.S. supply chain. “The safety or efficacy of counterfeit products cannot be assured and they should not be used,” Novo Nordisk said in a statement after the counterfeit doses were discovered. “Potential risks of taking a counterfeit medicine include serious adverse events.” The company also released comparison photos, showing the miniscule differences between the real products and the knockoffs.
Further Reading
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacharyfolk/2023/11/28/counterfeit-ozempic-likely-caused-11-cases-of-hypoglycemia-in-lebanon/