Why would you risk taking ‘Fauxzempic’?

I’ve seen what happens to people who use counterfeit skinny jabs – and it’s a gateway to a world of painful side effects, says Charlotte Lytton. A global alert over black-market Ozempic highlights how dangerously unregulated the world of weight loss is

‘One celebrity nutritionist told me that clients were begging her for help to come off semaglutide, as their rapid weight-loss had triggered “Ozempic face”, an accelerated ageing side effect’ (iStock, Reuters)

Over the past two years, there has only been one word worth knowing about weight loss: Ozempic.

When used as a slimming tool, the drug has become so in demand as to trigger global shortages; it’s made its manufacturers, Novo Nordisk, Europe’s most valuable company, and has gone from Hollywood’s “dirty little secret” to a status symbol among those no longer forced to suffer the indignity of sweating off unwanted pounds.

Was there anything quite as inevitable, then, as bad actors cashing in on a market that will be worth $105bn come 2031?