European authorities warn of counterfeits of Ozempic, a medicine used for diabetes

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) has issued an alert through notifications from national health agencies regarding the existence of falsified batches of Ozempic, a diabetes medicine that is administered through an injectable solution.

As reported by the agency in a press release, health authorities have detected the distribution of pre-filled pens, the administration mechanism of this medication, with inactive serial numbers, which is why they alerted operators of possible counterfeiting.. These pens came from wholesalers in Austria and Germany, although, for the moment, their sale in legal pharmacies and no reports of patients affected by counterfeiting have been detected.

Counterfeiting is being investigated

As reported by the EMA, Ozempic pre-filled pens have batch numbers, 2D barcodes and unique serial numbers that can be traced throughout the EU, so when the inactive codes were scanned, alerts were triggered for the alleged fakes.

The event is being investigated by national and European health authorities in collaboration with the police, while establishments and distributors in the affected countries have been warned.. The EMA has also reported the differences between the counterfeit pens and the original ones, which can be observed in their appearance, as published in some images by the German medicines agency.

The authorities recommend, in any case, to consult the leaflet to make sure that it is not a counterfeit, not to use Ozempic pre-filled pens suspected of being fake and to return it in case it may be fake, although its sale has not been detected in pharmacies at the moment. Finally, the EMA recommends that patients buy medicines online only through legal establishments.