Many Online Pharmacies Sell Weight Loss Products Illegally: Study

Many online pharmacies that sell semaglutide, the main ingredient in weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy, do so illegally, according to new research.

The study, released Friday in the newspaper JAMA Network Open, found that when researchers used search engines to try to find “websites advertising semaglutide without a prescription” in the summer of last year, 42.27 percent of the online pharmacies that emerged “belonged to illegal pharmaceutical operations.”

“This qualitative study found that semaglutide products are being actively sold without a prescription by illegal online pharmacies, with sellers shipping unregistered and counterfeit products,” the study says. “Two evaluated sites were sent [Food and Drug Administration (FDA)] warning letters for illegal sale of unapproved and misbranded semaglutide.”

Tim Mackey, report author and professor at the University of California, San Diego, said those who buy anti-obesity medications online face “serious consumer risks” of receiving fake, ineffective and potentially dangerous medications.

The research echoes warnings from the World Health Organization (WHO), which warned in June that fake versions of semaglutide were found and sold in several countries.

The World Health Organization (WHO) issued a medical product alert in June that warned about fake versions of semaglutide, a diabetes drug, located in different countries

“WHO advises health professionals, regulatory authorities and the public [to] please be aware of these counterfeit batches of medicines,” said Dr. Yukiko Nakatani, WHO Assistant Director-General for Access to Medicines and Health Products, in a statement. “We call on interested parties to stop any use of suspected medicines and inform the relevant authorities.”

Manufacturers have had difficulty keeping up with demand for anti-obesity drugs, which can cost up to $1,300 a month, the study found. Because of this, the number of people looking for the medicine in online pharmacies has increased, worsening the increase in “counterfeit” products, according to the research.

Mackey added that the increase in potentially illegal online sales can also be attributed to insurance plans that do not cover the injections or to patients whose doctors do not prescribe the medication. Medicare also will not pay for medications when they are prescribed for weight loss, the study explained.

Mackey and his colleagues tested six different samples of semaglutide from different online pharmacies. In their study, they found that at least two of the pharmacies had received warning letters from the Food and Drug Administration for illegally selling misbranded semaglutide.

Medicines purchased online also contained up to 39% more semaglutide than indicated on the medicine, the research found. Overdosing on the drug can cause nausea, vomiting and dangerous drops in blood sugar, which can make people feel sick, according to the FDA.

Eli Lilly pharmaceutical company announced in June which was taking several legal actions against medical spas, wellness centers and other entities that used unapproved products similar to its weight loss medications.

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