Ozempic underworld: Inside the black market of obesity drugs

A CNBC investigation into counterfeit weight-loss drugs revealed an international illegal marketplace where criminals either alter the drugs or ship the real product from overseas.

Not far from the majestic Rocky Mountains is an ordinary suburban neighborhood, a tree-lined street and a modest light gray home.

It’s not the kind of place you’d imagine an investigation into black market Ozempic would lead. But it did.

A CNBC investigation into counterfeit weight loss drugs revealed an international illegal marketplace where criminals either brazenly alter the drugs or ship the real product from overseas — what’s known as drug diversion and against federal law.

The operations mainly involve phony or illegal versions of Novo Nordisk’s diabetes drug Ozempic and its obesity drug Wegovy as well as Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro and Zepbound. All four drugs are in a class of wildly popular weight loss drugs known as GLP-1s. The skyrocketing demand for the treatments has led to criminal schemes attempting to capitalize on the surge.

CNBC bought a drug marketed as Ozempic from a company called Laver Beauty, which on its website and corporate documents listed its address on that quiet residential street in Boulder. The drug cost $219 for a month’s supply, a fraction of the list price of $968 for a month’s supply of Ozempic in the U.S.

https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/ozempic-underworld-black-market-obesity-drugs-rcna174680

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