April 14, 2025: Regulators announce a third instance of counterfeit Ozempic injections in the U.S. drug supply
Major Stories
The FDA seized counterfeit Ozempic injections. PSM testified at a House Oversight Committee hearing.
Today the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced the April 9 seizure of several hundred units of fake 1mg Ozempic injections. This is the third instance of counterfeit Ozempic in the legitimate supply chain reported since December 2023. The FDA and Novo Nordisk are testing the seized products and do not yet have information about their quality or safety.
The FDA is advising patients, wholesalers, retail pharmacies and health care professionals to check the lot and serial numbers of Ozempic in their stock, to quarantine products bearing both the lot number PAR0362 and counterfeit serial numbers starting with the first eight digits 51746517, and to report them to the FDA and to drugmaker Novo Nordisk’s customer care team at 1-800-727-6500. Adverse effects should also be reported to Novo Nordisk and FDA’s MedWatch.
Boxes showing the lot and serial number of counterfeit Ozempic seized in April 2025 (FDA)
On April 9, 2025, PSM’s executive director Shabbir Safdar was a witness at the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform hearing, "Restoring Trust in the FDA: Rooting Out Illicit Products." Watch Shabbir’s remarks or the entire three-hour hearing.
Domestic News
The FDA warned a fake online pharmacy to stop selling Americans unapproved medicines. Arkansas’ legislature passed a PBM reform bill.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration issued a warning letter to www.thesafepills.org for selling a variety of unapproved and misbranded prescription medicine, including tapentadol, to U.S. residents.
Agents with U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Illinois seized 67 shipments of human growth hormone and steroids, three shipments of precursor chemicals and one shipment of 4-Butanediol, an illicit sedative that is sometimes substituted for GHB.
Police in Houston, Texas arrested a woman who allegedly operated a medical spa without a medical license and used counterfeit cosmetic injectables on her clients.
Arkansas’ legislature has passed a bill that would ban pharmacy benefits managers (PBMs) from operating pharmacies in the state. It’s headed to the governor's desk for signature. Pharmacists across the country say that PBMs are driving independent pharmacies to bankruptcy through systematic under-reimbursement. Learn more here.
Drugmaker Eli Lilly filed a lawsuit against an Indiana clinic for allegedly selling altered versions of its weight loss drugs, Zepbound and Mounjaro.
Screenshot from a website that falsely claimed to be selling Americans FDA-approved drugs.