Hundreds of websites are selling fake Ozempic, says company. Doctors say it's only going to get worse

Dr. Sean Wharton was not surprised to learn about a surge in shady websites selling what are alleged to be counterfeit versions of popular weight-loss and diabetes drugs like Ozempic.

Whenever a new drug dominates the market, he says, whether it's for cancer or cholesterol or erectile dysfunction, bad actors find ways to cash in.

"But this is, on scale, a hundred times bigger," said Wharton, an internal medicine specialist at Michael Garron Hospital in Toronto and assistant professor at the University of Toronto who researches obesity medicine, including studies paid for by the company that makes Ozempic. 

"None of those medications make you skinny."

BrandShield, an Israel-based cybersecurity company hired by a consortium of pharmaceutical companies, says it took down more than 250 websites selling fake versions of Ozempic and similar drugs in 2023.

Doctors and health-care law experts say this is part of the growing and dangerous problem of counterfeit drugs. It's an issue they say is likely to get worse — especially when it comes to this class of highly sought-after pharmaceuticals.

Ozempic and other drugs in its class are known as glucagon-like peptides, or GLP-1 medicines. They were initially developed to treat diabetes, but in recent years have become in high demand for weight-loss, generating huge buzz from celebrities like Oprah Winfrey. 

Their active ingredient, semaglutide, promotes insulin production and also stimulates part of the brain that controls appetite. 

Many obesity specialists and endocrinologists have extolled these drugs as an effective treatment for what they say is a genetic, medical condition. But doctors have also urged caution, warning they come with potential side effects, need to be taken long term to remain effective, and shouldn't be seen as a quick-fix. 

BrandShield said it had 1,600 fake online pharmacies taken down last year, 279 of which were selling counterfeit drugs intended to treat metabolic conditions. Of those, it said more than 90 per cent were hawking fake GLP-1 medicines.

"This is a growing problem worldwide in the past few years, especially since COVID, with an increasing number of fake pharmacies and counterfeited drugs being sold online, and impersonations on social media," BrandShield CEO Yoav Keren told  As It Happens host Nil Köksal.

"This is a problem across industries, not only necessarily pharma. The big difference here is that when you buy a fake drug, it can kill you."

Popular GLP-1 brands include Novo Nordisk's Ozempic and Wegovy, and Eli Lilly's Mounjaro and Zepbound. Both drug companies are members of the Pharmaceutical Security Institute, which hired BrandShield to target the counterfeit sales.

BrandShield said it had the fake pharmacy websites taken down by collecting evidence against them, and submitting that to the service providers hosting the sites.