{"id":299880,"date":"2026-01-23T18:04:12","date_gmt":"2026-01-23T18:04:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/299880\/"},"modified":"2026-01-23T18:04:12","modified_gmt":"2026-01-23T18:04:12","slug":"health-canada-warns-of-fake-semaglutide-drugs-cites-product-safety-risks-national","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/299880\/","title":{"rendered":"Health Canada warns of fake semaglutide drugs, cites \u2018product safety\u2019 risks &#8211; National"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Health Canada is warning Canadians of the dangers of buying \u201cfake or unauthorized products\u201d meant to replicate popular GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic, Rybelsus and Wegovy.<\/p>\n<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/70c8fc80.png\" alt=\"\" style=\"position:absolute;width:1px;height:1px\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\"\/><\/p>\n<p>In a <a href=\"https:\/\/recalls-rappels.canada.ca\/en\/alert-recall\/thinking-about-buying-glp-1-drugs-ozempic-or-mounjaro-beware-fake-or-unauthorized\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">public advisory<\/a> released on Wednesday, Health Canada states that the risks of using \u201ccounterfeit\u201d alternatives can vary from \u201cinfections due to lack of sterility, allergic reactions, and other serious negative outcomes due to contamination, improper handling, or unsafe administration.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Health Canada advised users to watch out for incorrect labels, poor manufacturing or any product containing contaminants such as solvents, heavy metals, particles (glass, fibres and plastics) or microbials such as bacteria, fungi or endotoxins.<\/p>\n<p>Initially developed to treat Type 2 diabetes, this kind of drug has gained considerable traction in the past decade for managing obesity and other health conditions.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-video__image\" alt=\"Click to play video: 'Health Matters: Novo Nordisk Canada may offer cheaper drug options'\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/jan_7_hm.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\"   data-\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t2:34<br \/>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tHealth Matters: Novo Nordisk Canada may offer cheaper drug options\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>As the drugs have become more popular, price has remained a challenge for many users, though generic versions are expected to hit the market soon.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\tTrending Now\n\t<\/p>\n<ul class=\"l-inlineStories__posts c-posts c-posts--inline \">\n<li class=\"c-posts__item\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/11624440\/child-detained-ice-boy-liam-ramos-minnesota\/\" class=\"c-posts__inner\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-posts__thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/liam-ramos-ice.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"336\" height=\"224\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\tICE detains 5-year-old Minnesota boy as he arrives home from school\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<li class=\"c-posts__item\">\n\t\t\t<a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/11628832\/trump-withdraws-carney-invitation-board-of-peace\/\" class=\"c-posts__inner\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"c-posts__thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/61db7a133dcce40ec1fbad80a6fed117b5639e398d9446128a28aa5b90dbb499_813b17.jpg\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"336\" height=\"224\" alt=\"\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t\t\t\tTrump withdraws Carney\u2019s invitation to \u2018Board of Peace\u2019\n\t\t\t<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Story continues below advertisement<\/p>\n<p>There <a href=\"https:\/\/www.canada.ca\/en\/health-canada\/services\/drug-health-product-review-approval\/generic-submissions-under-review.html#a1\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">are currently eight submissions before Health Canada<\/a> seeking approval to create generic versions of Ozempic and Wegovy by using semaglutide, the main ingredient.<\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" width=\"170\" height=\"225\" loading=\"lazy\" src=\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/08\/healthiq.jpg\" alt=\"Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday.\"\/><\/p>\n<p>\t\t\t\t\tGet weekly health news<\/p>\n<p>Receive the latest medical news and health information delivered to you every Sunday.<\/p>\n<p>According to <a href=\"https:\/\/iatoday.ia.ca\/publications\/2026-01-22\/ozempic-and-wegovy-generics-are-coming-what-does-this-mean-for-plans\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">iA Financial Group<\/a>, prices for brand-name drugs could stabilize at about 35 per cent of the current cost once multiple generics hit the market.<\/p>\n<p>For example, Wegovy\u2019s current list price <a href=\"https:\/\/globalnews.ca\/news\/11556153\/wegovy-price-negotiations-canada\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">is expected to cost $5,066 per patient per year<\/a>, or roughly $400 per month.<\/p>\n<p>In addition, Health Canada cautioned users to follow instructions and recommendations from health officials, as \u201csome websites and social media advertisements misuse Health Canada logos and display fake endorsements to mislead consumers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Health Canada recommended that Canadians ensure that the product they are using has been authorized by Health Canada and to speak with health-care professionals about what product to take.<\/p>\n<p>\n\t\t&amp;copy 2026 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.\t<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Health Canada is warning Canadians of the dangers of buying \u201cfake or unauthorized products\u201d meant to replicate popular&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":299881,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[274],"tags":[4585,18,135,148263,19,17,462,6916],"class_list":{"0":"post-299880","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-consumer","9":"tag-eire","10":"tag-health","11":"tag-health-canada-recall","12":"tag-ie","13":"tag-ireland","14":"tag-medication","15":"tag-semaglutide"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/115945738331676748","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299880","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=299880"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/299880\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/299881"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=299880"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=299880"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=299880"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}