Amsterdam: Several people were hospitalized with life-threatening seizures and low blood sugar after taking counterfeit versions of the diabetes drug Ozempic, Austrian authorities say.
The investigators believe the patients obtained the fake Ozempic pens — which they believed were real — from one doctor, without going through a pharmacy.
Now, health authorities in Austria are racing to warn people across Europe to look out for dangerous counterfeit versions of the drug, which is widely used to help with weight loss.
On Monday, the Austrian Federal Office for Safety in Health Care and the country’s criminal intelligence service released a joint statement saying that the fake pens appear to have been dosed with insulin, instead of semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic.
Semaglutide is a newer drug that’s generally safer to use than insulin, because it works like a gut hormone that indirectly helps control blood sugar by improving insulin sensitivity. Overdosing on insulin, on the other hand, can kill you.
Shortages are driving people to alternative, unapproved versions of Ozempic
Ozempic, the blockbuster diabetes drug which is often used off-label for weight loss, has been in short supply worldwide for many months, an issue that’s expected to stretch into 2024.
Many people are turning to compounding pharmacies which are generally allowed to make generic versions of patented drugs when there’s a shortage. But the quality of compounded semaglutide varies widely.
In the US, authorities have warned consumers that some compounding pharmacies are actually selling people semaglutide salts, instead of the base form of the compound that’s been tested safe for people.
“This shortage is apparently being exploited by criminal organizations to place counterfeits of Ozempic on the market,” Austrian health authorities said in a statement on Monday.
How to spot a fake Ozempic pen
“Stocks of the affected batch could still be in circulation,” authorities warned.
The fake pens under investigation are darker blue than real Ozempic, the authorities said, and the safety window and dose setting ring both look a little off:
The European Medicines Agency said last week that fake Ozempic pens like these were popping up among wholesalers in both the European Union and UK, but this is the first time that authorities have reported the fake pens resulting in real harm.
The labels on all the fake pens identified so far have been in German, and they appear to have originated in Austria and Germany, the EMA said.
