Warning: Pretend weight reduction medication | Counterfeit Ozempic leads FDA message to customers

NORTH CAROLINA — A warning to customers about faux Ozempic (semaglutide). The FDA issued this alert saying counterfeits have been discovered within the US drug provide chain.

The FDA and the producer of Ozempic, Novo Nordisk are urging sufferers, medical doctors and pharmacies to test their Ozempic prescriptions to ensure they’re authentic. Novo Nordisk, the producer, says they’re conscious of a number of hundred items of Ozempic injection 1 mg being distributed exterior of their provide chain.

The producer says you’ll be able to spot the counterfeit merchandise by trying on the label. For the fakes, the label combines an actual lot variety of PAR0362 and an illegitimate serial quantity starting with the primary eight digits 51746517. The lot quantity is an genuine lot quantity, and solely when each the lot quantity is coupled with the eight digits, the FDA says it’s counterfeit and shouldn’t be used.

The FDA and the producer say they’re testing the faux merchandise to establish whether or not they’re protected. Neither Novo Nordisk nor FDA can verify the contents or high quality of the counterfeit product, which can current a security danger for sufferers who use the counterfeit product.

That is not the primary time now we have warned you about counterfeit GLP-1 medication. In addition to the FDA, the FBI additionally issued this warning about faux compounding weight reduction medication in the marketplace.

SEE ALSO | FDA approves Ozempic to scale back dangers from persistent kidney illness in diabetes sufferers

To guard your self, the FDA is urging pharmacies and sufferers to test their 1 milligram of Ozempic provide to ensure they don’t have the counterfeit product and evaluate the lot and serial numbers with what the FDA is saying are fakes. If you happen to do have a counterfeit product, Novo Nordisk and the FDA need to hear from you. The manufacture advices retail pharmacies to buy genuine Ozempic (semaglutide) injection 1 mg and different semaglutide-containing medicines via approved distributors of Novo Nordisk.

The North Carolina Legal professional Normal additionally issued a warning about faux weight reduction medication, and up to now, they are saying there have been no reviews of the faux medication reported to their workplace.

SEE ALSO | Testing on-line weight reduction drugs for efficiency; Here is what we discovered