FDA investigates as three Americans ‘are hospitalized after taking fake Ozempic’ – as shortages see slimmers turn to black market

At least three Americans are reported to have been hospitalized after taking black market weight-loss injections, official records show.

A huge spike in demand for Ozempic and Wegovy in the past year has created shortages, with consumers increasingly turning to counterfeit semaglutide, the active drug in those shots.

The hospitalizations are listed on the Food and Drug Administration’s open drug side effect monitoring system called FAERS, which was last updated at the end of September.

In total there were 42 reports of ‘adverse events’, with 28 classified as ‘serious’.

Only some of those specifically mention Ozempic, including one of the three U.S. hospitalizations. All were submitted to the FDA by Novo Nordisk, the company that makes Ozempic and Wegovy, citing reports to the company by either consumers or health care providers.