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BrandShield, a cybersecurity agency that detects trademark infringement and counterfeit gross sales on-line, mentioned on Monday that it shut down greater than 250 web sites that had been hawking faux weight reduction medication.
BrandShield collects proof towards web sites promoting counterfeit merchandise and shares it with the businesses internet hosting the web sites and, in some circumstances, legislation enforcement businesses.
The corporate told Reuters that over 90% of the 279 pharmacy web sites promoting weight reduction and diabetes medicines that it helped take down final yr had been associated to GLP-1s—the category of medication to which Ozempic, Wegovy and Zepbound belong.
GLP-1s, which assist regulate blood sugar ranges, had been initially accepted to deal with type-2 diabetes, however they’ve surged in recognition on account of their weight-loss unwanted effects.
Demand for these medicines have reworked Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk into the most valuable pharmaceutical companies in the world. Eli Lilly, the maker of Zepbound, is the world’s tenth largest firm by market capitalization, at $713 billion. And gross sales of Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy and Ozempic even helped boost Denmark’s GDP in 2023.
“I wouldn’t be stunned to see criminals attempt to use the rising recognition of those medication to promote extra counterfeits,” BrandShield CEO Yoav Keren informed Reuters.
Excessive demand for these medication has additionally made it hard for some patients to have their prescriptions filled.
The Meals and Drug Administration mentioned in April that two doses of Zepbound, together with some doses of the corporate’s diabetes remedy Mounjaro, are in limited supply. The medication will likely be in brief provide by means of no less than the top of April on account of elevated demand, the FDA mentioned.
Novo Nordisk has been limiting starter doses of Wegovy since final yr to make sure there’s sufficient provide for sufferers already on the drug. However the issue is compounding: Novo Nordisk CEO Lars Fruergaard Jørgensen mentioned in March that the gap between demand for weight loss drugs and the supply is so vital that it’s going to take years to shut.
The FDA has now issued warnings that counterfeit and compounded variations of those medication have hit the market amid shortages and could also be unsafe.
“Whereas we perceive sure medication are in brief provide and sufferers are having problem acquiring their remedy, FDA urges sufferers to acquire pharmaceuticals solely from state-licensed pharmacies which can be positioned within the U.S.,” the company mentioned in January.
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