European Medicines Agency warns about falsified Ozempic products

The European Medicines Agency has published a press release urging healthcare professionals and users of the medicine to report to the national pharmaceutical authorities any suspected falsifications of the Ozempic 1 mg product. 

Falsifications originating from an Austrian and a German pharmaceutical wholesaler have been detected in the European Union and in the United Kingdom. The package labelling on the falsifications is in German and the prefilled pen looks different from the original one. According to current information, falsified packs have not been dispensed from pharmacies to patients within the European Union.

There are no Ozempic products with package labelling in German legally for sale in Finland. Parallel distribution products obtained from other EU countries and legally repacked for the Finnish markets have also not been available for a long time. 

Fimea reminds everyone that medicinal products must not be purchased from illegal websites or other unreliable marketplaces. In the legal manufacture and distribution chain of medicines, the safety and authenticity of medicines is ensured in many ways. For example, the safety features found on all packages of prescription medicines are checked several times before the pack is received by the person using it so that its authenticity can be verified and to ensure that the package has not been opened. The falsified medicines detected in the European Union and in the United Kingdom were found when these particular safety features were checked.

Ozempic is one of the new generation of diabetes medicines, the demand for which has grown globally, leading to shortages. In the illegal markets of medicinal products, the situation can partly be seen as an increase in the supply of falsifications and in scams. No legal “generic products” exist for the new generation of diabetes medicines, neither can the products be purchased legally without a prescription. 

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European Medicines Agency’s press release 18 October 2023