Fake Ozempic: How batch numbers help criminal groups spread dangerous drugs
Fake Ozempic: How batch numbers help criminal groups spread dangerous drugs
Sept 5 (Reuters) – In December, Drew, a 36-year-old man from San Antonio, Texas, drove more than 250 miles (400 km) to Mexico to buy cheap Ozempic to help him lose weight. Going home, he checked the pens. They looked unusual, so he shared photos on social media. The verdict: They were fakes.
Three people on Reddit said Drew’s product looked like insulin. “If so, it would be dangerous to use,” said one. A surge of insulin can cause a sharp drop in blood sugar that can lead to dizziness, seizures and death.
The incident sheds light on a wider problem in the manufacturing of highly sought-after drugs, one that lets criminal organizations circulate potentially lethal fakes: forged drug batch numbers.
Pharmaceutical companies, including Ozempic-maker Novo Nordisk (NOVOb.CO), authenticate batches of drugs with combinations of letters and numbers printed on the packaging, which are then used to track the product in a given country.
The fake pens Drew bought carried the batch, or lot, number MP5B060 to make them look authentic. To Novo, that represented a shipment of the diabetes drugs destined for Egypt.
The fact Drew bought them in Mexico showed something was wrong – although as a consumer, he did not realize that.
The flaw, which is rooted in an effort to ensure the drugs are traceable and safe, is exacerbated by patchy regulation by health authorities globally.
By the time Drew made his purchase, fakes with batch number MP5B060 had turned up in at least 10 countries from Azerbaijan to North Macedonia, according to a Reuters review of drug regulator announcements and documents obtained through Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests.
The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a warning in July 2023 about products with batch number MP5B060 and Interpol also warned last year that insulin pens were being relabeled and repackaged to look like Ozempic. Some countries banned products with the number. Others did not.
Mexico’s drug regulator did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
In at least four countries, the fakes have resulted in hospitalizations.
In the U.S., Nigeria and Iraq, the fake Ozempic shots looked like insulin pens, according to Reuters’ review of the documents and regulator announcements. In Iraq, a man fell into a coma after his blood sugar dropped to half normal levels after using one, before later recovering, Reuters found.
Read the full article on Reuters.
