Authorities report: Fake weight loss syringes in circulation

Several hundred counterfeit weight loss syringes are said to be in circulation. Their whereabouts are unclear. The dangerous Ozempic fakes are said to be, according to information from NDR, WDR and SZ come from Turkey and were sold through a company in North Rhine-Westphalia.

According to research by NDR, WDR and “Süddeutscher Zeitung” unclear. This emerges from internal communications from the European Working Group of Enforcement Officers (WGEO). In this working group, the heads of state drug authorities inform each other about counterfeit medicines.

From Germany, the Federal Institute for Drugs and Medical Devices (BfArM) is part of this group. According to a WGEO report from October, the wholesaler Pharma Medtec in Lörrach, Baden-Württemberg, is said to have bought a further 600 packs in Austria in addition to the 200 counterfeit Ozempic syringes that have so far become known.

Life-threatening hypoglycaemia

The whereabouts of these packages are “unknown,” according to the report. The managing director of PharmaMedtec left questions about the case unanswered. The BfArM has now announced that the syringes purchased from Pharma Medtec contained insulin instead of the active ingredient semaglutide. Anyone who injects themselves with insulin without a medical reason can end up in a life-threatening state of hypoglycemia. The authorities therefore urgently warn against relabeled insulin syringes.

According to WGEO reports, the supplier of the counterfeit syringes is the Austrian company AZ Naturemed. Naturemed is a group of companies that includes a pharmaceutical wholesaler. Naturemed also boasts on its website that it is a “partner for the distribution of Russian vaccines” and trades in “Druid plants” and other esoteric products.

In addition to the 800 packs of counterfeit Ozempic syringes to the German company, Naturemed is said to have sold a further 300 packs directly to a British wholesaler. Naturemed is said to have transferred the money for these around 1,100 packs to the company ILTS-Forwarding in Neuss in North Rhine-Westphalia. Upon request, the Graz public prosecutor’s office confirmed an investigation against the founder of Naturemed. The company left all questions asked of it unanswered.

Searches at the company in Neuss

ILTS-Forwarding in Neuss was searched two weeks ago by police officers from the Düsseldorf Commissariat for Economic Crime. According to a police statement, the company that was searched is suspected of having “purchased more than a thousand units of the counterfeit diet injections from a Turkish company and in some cases distributed them.”

The CEO of ILTS did not answer any of the questions NDR, WDR and SZ. She simply said in a short message: “The information you have is all half-knowledge” and “use your skills elsewhere and don’t interfere with the investigation.” During the corona pandemic, ILTS traded in FFP2 masks. She sued the Federal Ministry of Health for payment of 85 million euros for allegedly unpaid mask deliveries, but the Bonn regional court rejected this as unfounded in a ruling from June this year.

According to the WGEO reports and the investigators’ initial findings, the fake Ozempic syringes delivered to Germany and Austria originally came from Turkey from the Ankara-based pharmaceutical company AUB Healthcare. On its website, AUB boasts of having connections to more than 2,500 foreign companies. However, upon request, AUB Healthcare stated that they had no business dealings with the companies mentioned in connection with the Ozempic counterfeits and had not supplied any products.

To the hospital in an ambulance

The batch of counterfeit slimming syringes, which, according to WGEO reports, went from the Turkish company AUB to the Austrian Naturemed, bears the number MP5E511.

Counterfeit Ozempic syringes from the same batch apparently ended up with the Salzburg cosmetic surgeon Christian Wolf. Wolf’s patients include a 32-year-old woman from Salzburg, who told reporters from CTRL_F (radio/NDR) gave an interview. She described that the doctor sold her the pens with the counterfeit active ingredient directly in the practice.

The 32-year-old woman suffered life-threatening hypoglycemia after she administered one of the alleged Ozempic injections, which was presumably filled with insulin. She had to be taken to the hospital by ambulance and treated in the intensive care unit.

In Austria, Ozempic is sold for around 120 euros per pen, with each pen always containing four doses, i.e. enough for four weeks. Wolf initially sold her the pens for 250 euros each, later for 399 euros and finally for 499 euros, allegedly because of the delivery shortages.

Wolf himself did not want to comment on the prices when asked; his lawyer said by telephone that the doctor did not want to answer any questions at the moment. WGEO reports indicate that Wolf gave ten counterfeit pens to patients. In total he received 250 pens. Wolf is said to have returned the pens to his supplier, according to a WGEO report. Wolf also left questions about this unanswered.

Investigations against “Beauty Doc”

The fate of these “counterfeit packs remains unclear,” according to the November 7 report. According to information from NDR, WDR and “Süddeutscher Zeitung” there are now public prosecutor’s investigations against Wolf in Austria on suspicion of serious fraud and serious bodily harm.

Wolf, who is often referred to in the media as the “beauty doc,” had given several interviews about the weight-loss injection before the counterfeiting cases became known. A report about him in Focus magazine states that he knows how to get around delivery bottlenecks. “He has been purchasing the diabetes drug Ozempic directly from the USA for more than two years through an international pharmacy and is treating patients off-label for obesity in Vienna, Salzburg, Munich and Mallorca.” He has “successfully treated” more than a hundred patients, including “some celebrities,” with it.

In these interviews, Wolf seems more like an Ozempic salesman than a doctor. In his own press release he even claims that the weight loss injection “also eliminates the dreaded yo-yo effect.” However, this contradicts the tenor of approval studies on the drug. When asked, Wolf did not provide any evidence for his claim.

The Steyr public prosecutor’s office has initiated an investigation not only against Wolf, but also against his alleged Austrian suppliers, the companies TCHmed and Kairos 13. According to the investigators’ findings, both companies do not have a license to trade in pharmaceuticals. Kairos 13 left a query unanswered. The managing director of TCHmed said his company had “never done business with Ozempic.”