Emily Stearn, health reporter for Mailonline
June 21, 2024 at 10:28 am, updated on June 21, 2024 at 10:32 am
Fake versions of “game-changing” slimming punches have been discovered in the UK, US and Brazil, global health chiefs have warned.
The once-weekly dosage, made by Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk, is being offered on the NHS to help people with type 2 diabetes control their blood sugar levels.
Semaglutide – the generic name for Ozempic – also triggers weight loss, earning it praise as a “miracle” weight loss injection.
But World Health Organization (WHO) chiefs said three fake batches had entered the market, falsely claiming to be made by Novo Nordisk.
The UN agency detected fake injection pens that could be “life-threatening” in Brazil and the UK last October and in the US in December.
Dr Yukiko Nakatani, WHO’s Deputy Director-General for Essential Medicines and Health Products, said: “WHO advises health professionals, regulators and the public to be aware of these counterfeit drug batches.
“We urge the parties involved to stop using the suspected drugs and report it to the relevant authorities.”
Some fake injections may not contain semaglutide at all, or others may contain other drugs such as insulin, leading to “unpredictable” effects, the WHO said.
Anyone concerned they may be in possession of a counterfeit product should not use it and instead seek immediate medical attention, he added.
Health authorities should also quarantine suspected counterfeits and retain the product for testing.
Semaglutide, branded as Ozempic, has been available on the NHS for type 2 diabetes since 2019. manage blood sugar levels.
In these patients, the dose is 0.25 mg once a week for four weeks, which can be increased to 0.5 mg and 1 mg if necessary.
Semaglutide was approved for weight loss in 2022 under the brand name Wegovy.
The treatments — which have been shown to help users lose up to 33 pounds (15.3 kg) in an average of 68 weeks — trick the brain into thinking it’s full, reducing appetite as a result and preventing users from overeating.
Doses start at 0.25 mg and go up to 2.4 mg. It is available on the NHS for obese patients with a weight-related medical condition.
However, each drug can be accessed privately for weight loss through off-label prescribing. This is a system where doctors can dispense a drug approved in the UK but for a purpose other than what it was approved for.
However, the huge global demand has flooded the market with counterfeit versions.
Reports of fake weight loss in the UK first appeared in the media last August.
British health officials have already seized more than 600 potentially fake Ozempic pens across the country since the start of 2023.
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has warned patients who have suffered seizures and even been left in a coma after injecting fake versions that were being sold at a cut price online.
The watchdog also said many won’t even contain semaglutide. Counterfeit versions are often just insulin pens that have been repackaged to look like the real thing, deceiving customers.
But when patients self-inject, the insulin spike causes a rapid drop in blood sugar—which can be fatal.
Earlier this year, the mother-of-three told how she nearly died after injecting herself with a “skinny punch” she bought online.
Lynsay McAvoy, from Edinburgh, bought the jab online in the hope of shedding belly fat – despite weighing just 8st (51kg).
After shedding about 7 pounds (3 kg) in a few weeks, the mother of three ordered another round of injections.
But then the 42-year-old beautician suffered a severe allergic reaction, causing her tongue to swell and her eyes to burn until she fell unconscious.
After being taken to the hospital, doctors informed her that she had suffered a severe allergic reaction to the injections, which can cause organ failure in severe cases.
She said she was “embarrassed” and warned that while it looked like a “quick fix”, the pens were “dangerous”.
She said the injections looked exactly the same as the first batch she bought, and she injected herself into her stomach before going to work.
However, within seconds her tongue swelled, her skin itched and her eyes “started to burn” to the point where she struggled to open them.
In April, a mother also said she was “lucky to be alive” after a “skinny shot” she bought on Instagram left her urinating blood and vomiting.
Trying to shed a few pounds before a family wedding, Shannon Flannery, from Medway, Kent, found semaglutide injections being flogged online.
The 27-year-old, who weighed 13st (82.6kg), paid £120 for ten weeks of stings in February.
DIY kits arrived in the mail with instructions on how to mix the ingredients yourself.
After the first injection directly into the stomach, the mother of two immediately felt nauseous. But her symptoms quickly subsided.
However, Ms Flannery vomited and threw up for four days after the second sting a week later.
After spotting blood in her urine, she rushed to the hospital, where she claims doctors told her one more “skinny blow” could have been “fatal”.
Game-changing injections like Ozempic have been hailed by the likes of Elon Musk and Jeremy Clarkson.
Ministers plan to hand out the drug to millions of overweight Britons to reduce the country’s soaring benefits bill. Children could end up getting stung too.
Like any medicine, semaglutide can have known side effects that vary in both frequency and severity, including nausea, constipation, diarrhea, tiredness, stomach pain, headache, and dizziness.
Some patients have also experienced hair loss on them.
The latest NHS figures show that 26 per cent of adults in England are obese and a further 38 per cent are overweight but not obese.
Experts have pointed to a lack of exercise and a poor diet high in ultra-processed foods as key drivers of the obesity epidemic in the UK.