Ozempic load: who makes money from the gray market of weight loss drugs
The volume of the gray market for the delivery of medicines from abroad runs into billions of rubles. The illegal turnover of Ozempik, a weight loss product alone, can reach 1.5 billion a year, even despite the availability of domestic analogs, Izvestia found out. After the official supplies of "Ozempik" to Russia stopped at the end of 2023, it began to be imported en masse from Turkey, Germany, Estonia, UAE and other countries. At the same time, no one controls the conditions of its transportation, and there is no marking of the "Honest Mark" system on it. The drug is sold without receipts, through small networks of pharmacies and private individuals, Izvestia found out during the investigation. Who and how earns on gray supplies of foreign drugs and why the state does not include them in the system of parallel import - in our material.
How is organized illegal trade "Ozempik"
- Do not enter the premises, we meet on the street, near the store "Red and White" - says the correspondent of "Izvestia" employee of the pharmacy "LavandaPharm", located on Chertanovskaya Street in Moscow.
We introduced ourselves as buyers of Ozempik, and we found the announcement of its availability in this particular pharmacy through one of their popular drug aggregators. When asked why such complications, we get a frank answer: the drug is sold past the cash register, there will be no receipt, and the fact of sale should not be caught on cameras in the pharmacy. Payment only by cash or transfer.
We drive up. On the spot we are met by a young man with a thermopack in his hands. Offers two options to choose from. Both packages look original, produced by the Danish Novo Nordisk, but one is for the German market, the second - for Saudi Arabia. They were purchased there before being shipped to Russia. And although the website lists the price at 17.5 thousand rubles, in fact you will have to pay 21 or 22 thousand - even in the gray market, marketing techniques are in place.
According to the seller, the price is influenced by the methods of delivery to Russia - the drug is imported by truck, train, car or airplane.
- I use only air for delivery - it is the most proven way to ensure the right conditions of transportation, - says Sergei (name changed). - If the price of the drug is below 20 thousand, it means it was brought by train or car, and there to ensure the necessary conditions of storage is more difficult (the drug must be stored and transported at a temperature of 2 to 8 ° C.). - Ed.).
The trader trusts his suppliers of Ozempik, so he does not conduct any laboratory tests of the received batches of the drug.
Sergei is only one (and quite small) element in the system of illegal distribution of Ozempik in Russia. This drug for diabetics has become very popular in recent years with those wishing to lose weight. And many customers prefer the original Novo Nordisk drug rather than its analogs. And so when in 2023 the Danish company announced that it would stop supplying it to Russia, a large illegal market was formed.
Today, messages about the sale of this drug are easy to find on the Internet, and sometimes - and on the sites of relatively large pharmacy chains. Thus, the Izvestiya correspondent was informed about the possibility to buy Danish Ozempik from Asna and Pharmasphere pharmacies. They specified that they import the drug from abroad - from Estonia, Romania, Poland and Germany (Izvestiya has audio recordings of the conversations).
One of the pharmacies on Avtozavodskaya Street in Moscow said that they were bringing Ozempik from Egypt, but they said to ask the manager for more detailed information in a personal conversation. In the pharmacy on the street of architect Shchusev said that they deliver the drug from the UAE. In "Apteka-Zdravnitsa" reported that they order the drug from buyers who import it through third countries, but did not disclose which ones.
Most pharmacies offer "Ozempik" at a price of 18.5 to 22 thousand rubles. But some outlets sell the drug for 54 thousand. They argue the cost of the product by its innovation.
- For such a price we offer self-adjusting syringe-pen, - clarified in "Apteka-Zdravnitsa".
At the same time, according to the state register of medicines, the maximum price for "Ozempik" is Br5.8 thousand. All pharmacies, which Izvestia correspondent managed to reach, did not ask for a prescription for the drug.
The publication also sent official requests to all the mentioned pharmacies, asking them to confirm the possibility to buy the drug from them.
In addition to pharmacies, Ozempik is also sold by private individuals in messengers. They also claim that they bring the product from abroad, including directly from Denmark. But after Izvestia's correspondent contacted them, some of them deleted their accounts.
How legal are the sales of Ozempik in Russia?
It is not illegal to sell Ozempik in Russia. However, in order to be legally sold, any drug must undergo mandatory laboratory tests and be registered in the "Honest Mark" system, practicing lawyer Zara Gorbushina reminded Izvestia.
The last official delivery of Ozempik to Russia, which passed all these procedures, took place at the end of 2023, the analytical company RNC Pharma told Izvestia.
- The drug has not been officially imported to Russia this year," confirmed Nikolay Bespalov, development director of the RNC analytical company.
Almost all drugs from the last official batch have been sold out. According to the "Honest Sign" system, as of December 10, a certain amount of officially imported "Ozempik" was still in a number of pharmacies of networks "April", "Rigla", "Aloe", "Health Planet" and "Doctor Stoletov". But in reality, the websites of these chains reflect the information that Ozempik is not available and its Russian analogs are offered. In response to Izvestia's inquiry, Rigla said that the last sale of Ozempik was in January 2024.
- Now the drug of the Danish manufacturer is not on sale, deliveries are not carried out, we do not accept pre-orders. There are drugs with a similar active ingredient of Russian production, - emphasized in the pharmacy network. - When receiving directly in the pharmacy, it is necessary to present a prescription from a doctor.
Nikolay Bespalov emphasized that importation of drugs into the country through third countries after the termination of their official supply, as in the case of Novo Nordisk, is a gray market. Foreign labeling is not relevant in such cases, as the drug enters the Russian market without the authorization and knowledge of the right holder and Roszdravnadzor.
- Parallel import of medicines is still not allowed in Russia," he reminded. - When imported through other countries, there is no quality control and there cannot be. Therefore, there are no guarantees that the use of the drug will be safe.
What responsibility is stipulated for illegal sale of medicines.
Sale of falsified, substandard, unregistered drugs, dietary supplements over the Internet for the amount of 100 thousand rubles or more may entail criminal liability with a maximum penalty of imprisonment for a term of four to six years with a fine of 750 thousand to 2.5 million rubles, explained Vladimir Kuznetsov, Chairman of the All-Russian Union of Mediators.
Volume of the gray market of Ozempik in Russia
At the peak of official supplies of Ozempik in Russia - in 2022, it was imported for about 7.4 billion rubles, a source familiar with the FCS statistics told Izvestia. At that time, it occupied 100% of the semaglutide-based drugs market.
By 2024, the situation has changed dramatically. Official sales of Novo Nordisk drug in January-October this year, according to DSM Group data, amounted to only RUB 562.8 mln, supplies for the state budget amounted to another RUB 450 thousand.
Novo Nordisk headquarters in Denmark
Russian analogs began to take the place of Ozempik. However, so far they have not reached the sales volume of the original Danish drug recorded in 2022. Total sales of analogs through pharmacies and supplies for hospitals for 10 months of 2024 amounted to just over 6.6 billion rubles, DSM Group reported.
While consumer interest in the drug is only growing, we can say that there is a serious share of the gray market, which is occupied by Ozempik (or its counterfeits), imported into the country illegally, stated a source of Izvestiya on the pharmaceutical market.
- The gray market of Ozempik is almost impossible to estimate reliably, but if we talk about approximate figures, it is about 1-1.5 billion rubles for January-October 2024, - believes Nikolay Bespalov from RNC.
What analogs of Ozempik exist in Russia
Until 2023, Ozempik was the only semaglutide-based drug in Russia. But then Russian companies began to bring its analogs to the market.
The first was Semavik from Geropharm. In December 2023, the pharma company received a compulsory license for it from the Russian government. Also, the companies "PSK Pharma" and "Promomed" have preparations based on semaglutide. The latest analog of Ozempik, Velgia from Promomed, was registered in October 2024.
Production of pharmaceuticals at the Geropharm plant
But with the supply of generics sometimes there are interruptions. For example, now the same "Semavik" is not available in pharmacies in the Amur, Bryansk, Kurgan regions and in the Jewish Autonomous District, "Izvestia" found out.
Not all of them are available within the framework of compulsory medical insurance. Thus, the drug "Velgia" will be available under compulsory health insurance from 2025, said Kira Zaslavskaya, the director for new products of "Promomed".
- It is better to buy domestic drugs based on semaglutide. Our modifications of "Ozempik" are of good quality. And when imported through the "tenth knee" prices are highly inflated, - said the first deputy chairman of the State Duma Health Committee Fedot Tumusov.
Vita Weber, head of Smartpharma, a community of pharmacists and pharmacists, also claims that Russian drugs are not inferior to the original and their prices are more adequate.
- Domestic generics of Ozempika are produced at pharmaceutical plants of the highest level, have clinically proven efficacy and are safe, and the quality is absolutely identical to imported analogs," agrees Evgeny Nifantiev, Deputy Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Health Protection. - The entire production and logistics chain is transparent and accessible to the consumer.
He emphasized that it is much safer to buy medicines that are produced and sold under state control than those imported privately through third countries.
- It is not recommended to purchase any medicines from hand. It is especially dangerous when it comes to injectable drugs with a special temperature mode of storage, - added Evgeny Nifantiev.
The departure of foreign pharmaceutical companies is a good incentive for Russian manufacturers to establish production of drugs in the country, emphasized Nikolay Bespalov.
Can the parallel import scheme be applied to medicines?
At the same time, sometimes there are situations when the cessation of supplies of foreign drugs creates certain problems for patients.
In 2023, the Finnish company Orion left Russia. After that, pharmacies faced a shortage of Metipred in tablet form for the treatment of rheumatic diseases. And now the analogs of "Metipred" are available to Russians only in the form of a solution.
In April 2022, Russian patients with Parkinson's disease faced a shortage of life-saving drugs with levodopa produced by Teva and Roche, representatives of patient organizations reported.
In May 2024, Izvestia wrote that the drug Endoxan with the active ingredient cyclophosphamide was missing from Russian pharmacies. They are available in the form of tablets and powder. The tablets are produced only by the American pharmaceutical company Baxter. As a result, cancer patients in at least 50 regions faced with its absence.
At the same time, all these and many other medicines, as well as Ozempik, are offered by Baxter for delivery under order.
Often, even with the availability of generics, patients may be afraid of replacing drugs, as periodically when switching to them may be observed a decrease in efficacy or tolerability, says nephrologist Anna Korobkina.
- Generics contain the same active substance as the original drugs and should provide similar concentration of the active substance in the body," she explained. - However, bioequivalence allows for small deviations, about 20%, which can be significant and will require dose adjustments.
Original drugs often use unique proprietary formulas of excipients that improve absorption, stability and tolerability of the drug, the expert noted.
A way out of the situation could well be the extension of the parallel import scheme for medicines, some experts believe. The batches of goods supplied in this way would go through all the necessary stages of legalization, would be labeled, and their quality would be confirmed.
Thus, Nikolay Bespalov expressed confidence that Russia will not go for legalization of parallel import of medicines, as it is unprofitable for the country's pharmaceutical sovereignty.
- It is disadvantageous for the state. Now patients in any case can get unregistered in the country drugs for vital indications or through the fund "Circle of Goodness". On the contrary, Russian manufacturers benefit from the departure of foreign companies. This is an incentive for them to establish their own production," the expert explained.
In his opinion, the country's pharmaceutical sovereignty is necessary "so that Russians are not left without medicines at all".
