The US isn’t the only place obsessed with Ozempic and Wegovy to shed pounds as halfway across the world, image conscious Chinese are turning to scalpers and fake prescriptions to get their hands on the drugs, leaving a shortage for the type-2 diabetics who rely on the medications to control their blood sugar.
The US has already approved once-weekly high-dose shots of semaglutide — the generic name for the drug — as a weight-loss therapy. But China, where the obesity rate is increasing though remains a fraction of the US’, continues to tightly control its use and limits it to only type-2 diabetes patients.
With Chinese social media awash with influencers flaunting their newly trim Ozempic-fueled bodies, demand is surging. Online pharmacies and brick-and-mortar stores have sold out, thanks to false prescriptions and scalpers who flip the drug online for twice as much.
Doctors and health experts have repeatedly warned people about the risks of taking Ozempic, which range from nausea and diarrhea to possible thyroid tumors, without a proper evaluation of their health. But it’s done little to calm the frenzy.
Chinese biotech companies are now rushing to fill the shortage as they vie for a slice of the market for weight loss drugs that analysts predict will boom in coming years.
There’s already a legal showdown underway between Huadong Medicine Co. and Novo Nordisk as the Chinese firm challenges the latter’s patent for semaglutide, which the country’s intellectual property regulator ruled invalid last year. Novo has appealed that decision, and the health industry is keenly awaiting a court decision that, if upheld, could potentially see a flurry of domestic companies flooding the market with Ozempic copycats.
Meanwhile, Innovent Biologics Inc. recently reported that a similar drug, co-developed with Eli Lilly & Co., saw participants in a clinical study shed almost 15 kilograms (33 pounds) after 24 weeks.
For now, though, enduring demand means there’s no end in sight to the shortage and doctors have taken to social media to discourage people from seeking out Ozempic.
A recent video posted on Chinese social media showed a young woman asking a doctor for Ozempic, explaining she wants her weight to drop to 42 kilograms from 47 kilograms in time for summer. A friend had managed to lose at least 12 kilograms after taking the drug, she explained. The doctor rejected her request as she’s not diabetic, instead recommending changes to her diet, exercise and telling her to “forget about this whim.”
(Bloomberg)
