The spurious semaglutides, of a specific brand Ozempic, were found in Brazil, the United Kingdom in October 2023 and the United States in December 2023, and were delivered through a regular supply chain.
The official advisory from the WHO follows reports of “counterfeit semaglutide products” in all geographic regions of its Global Surveillance and Monitoring System (GSMS) since 2022.
Dr. Yukiko Nakatani, WHO Assistant Director-General for Essential Medicines and Health Products, called on all stakeholders to “Stop any use of suspicious medications and report to the relevant authorities..”
Risks
The actual manufacturer of Ozempic confirmed with the WHO that semaglutides were counterfeit based on batch and serial numbers.
Semaglutides are supposed to help people reduce their blood sugar and appetite levels and the risk of cardiovascular disease. The WHO says reports of counterfeit products increased as demand for the product increased.
Consuming counterfeit or counterfeit products can have harmful and potentially fatal effects on the body.
The WHO does not recommend semaglutides for the treatment of diabetes due to the high cost of the product.
Avoid fake products
Dr. Nakatani said the UN health agency advised health professionals, regulatory authorities and the public to “be on the lookout for these counterfeit batches of medicines.”
He added that health professionals “must report any incident of adverse effectslack of effectiveness and suspicion of falsification to the national regulatory authorities/National Pharmacovigilance Center.”
The WHO also advised people who may have counterfeit products not to use them and to seek medical assistance if they have used them and experienced side effects.
Avoid unknown sources
To avoid such a scenario, the WHO urged people to buy prescription products from licensed doctors instead of online or from unknown sources.
The WHO added that people should use the products as prescribed and should check the batch and serial numbers, examine the product itself and evaluate the quality of the label to ensure that the product being used is not counterfeit.
