Semaglutide seems to be the drug of the century so far, and it is throwing up many legal and ethical issues because of its widespread use and the amount of money being generated – global sales of GLP-1 products in 2024 were over £17bn.
Given the financial success of semaglutide products, it is not surprising that counterfeit and unlicensed versions are being sold online. Novo Nordisk, the manufacturers, recently brought proceedings against four internet service providers, seeking injunctions to block the websites of Viogen Pharma, Pharma-Labs, Leo Labs and The Steroid Supplier, together with any mirror or successor websites. These websites were all targeting UK consumers.
In (1) Novo Nordisk A/S, (2) Novo Nordisk Limited v (1) British Telecommunications PLC, (2) EE Limited, (3) Plusnet PLC, (4) Sky UK Limited, (5) TalkTalk Telecom Limited, (6) Virgin Media Limited [2026] EWHC 1094 (Ch, Mr Justice Mellor noted this was the first application for a website-blocking injunction concerned with the supply of counterfeit and unlicensed prescription-only medicinal products; and he was influenced by the fact that the advertising and offering for sale of unlicensed prescription-only medicines is a criminal offence under the Human Medicine Regulations 2012.
The legal background to Novo Nordisk’s case was that the online advertising of unlicensed and counterfeit semaglutide breached its intellectual property rights. The judge referred to evidence that large numbers of UK consumers are being deceived into thinking that they are purchasing a licensed and genuine source of semaglutide when they are not. Such deception is enhanced by further statements made by the website operators to the effect that they are a “pharmaceutical company you can trust” (Viogen website home page) and whose products are “certified by the WHO-GMP, and fully compliant with … UKMHRA (UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency [sic]” (Viogen website FAQ page).
Somewhat toothlessly, it seems, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) had failed in efforts to take down the Viogen website and had written to Novo Nordisk, asking for the manufacturer’s help.
In deciding to grant the injunctions, the judge took into account evidence that (amongst other things):
- clearly established the harms and dangers posed by falsified semaglutide products;
- falsified products may not have been manufactured to the same laboratory standards of quality control as those manufactured by Novo Nordisk, with resulting impurities, the presence of allergens, or differences in concentration;
- Novo Nordisk has given evidence to a US Senate Committee which identifies from US FDA data over 300 serious health issues, 100 hospitalisations and 10 deaths in the US that have been linked to the use of falsified semaglutide products, a phenomenon which cannot be confined to the US. The WHO has warned that substandard and falsified products sold online may cause as many as 1 million excess deaths annually, and that 50 per cent of medicines sold online are not genuine.
- The extent of the problem is such that the European Medicines Agency, MHRA and other national regulators have issued repeated warnings about unlicensed counterfeit versions of semaglutide and liraglutide.
- Any adverse reactions to unlicensed semaglutide risk contaminating Novo Nordisk’s pharmacovigilance system by wrongly attributing those events to Novo Nordisk’s products.
- UK and international news coverage has focussed on the dangers of “fake weight loss medication pens” and Novo Nordisk suggest this has led to a significant reduction in public trust in the UK.
- There are very serious risks to patients from these falsified products and it was made clear that preventing the UK public from being exposed to falsified and dangerous medicinal products was the Novo Nordisk’s primary aim in bringing this claim.
- Novo Nordisk is the only supplier of semaglutide products in the UK and EU; any adverse patient reaction to a falsified product will be likely to damage Novo Nordisk’s goodwill and reputation, and could lead to calls for product recalls.