Lose weight instead: pharmacy chain caught on the gray trade of "Ozempik"
In Moscow, investigators have opened a criminal case into the sale of substandard and unregistered medicines in a drugstore in Russia, the Investigative Committee said. These are, in particular, the drugs Ozempik and Orgalutran (used in the treatment of infertility), a law enforcement source told Izvestia. "Healfarm" has about a dozen outlets in the capital. The CEO of the network was detained, and investigators seized 17 million rubles in cash from her apartment. How "gray" medicines are sold and what harm they can cause to health is described in the Izvestia article.
Caught on the "Ozempika"
The management of the Moscow pharmacy chain "Leksfarm" was detained for trading in medicines not registered in Russia, the Investigative Committee reported. In fact, such drugs are counterfeit. The company has about a dozen pharmacies located in various municipal districts, and almost all of them have recently been searched.
We are talking, in particular, about the trade in "gray" "Ozempik," a law enforcement source told Izvestia. Investigators have opened a criminal case on the sale of substandard and unregistered medical products on a large scale (Part 2 of Article 238.1 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation). In the near future, the issue of choosing a preventive measure against the general director of the network Margarita Kabayeva will be resolved.
According to the source, the network systematically sold substandard and unregistered medicines in Russia, offering customers to order them through its official website on the Internet. That's where the operatives caught them.
During the control purchase, pharmacy employees sold the operatives first Ozempik from the Danish company Novo Nordisk (a popular diabetes drug that is also used for weight loss), and then Orgalutran from the Dutch company Organon, a prescription drug that is used in infertility treatment programs using assisted reproductive technologies. It is included in the list of vital and essential medicines" (VED), which means it has a marginal price.
According to the register of marginal selling prices, the cost of packaging a drug with one syringe is 995 rubles, with five syringes — 4.97 thousand rubles. But eight syringes cost 105,000 rubles at Leksfarm. That is, the price was overestimated by more than ten times. In addition, it was a drug with packaging in Armenian, meaning it was intended for the Armenian market. It was sold in a pharmacy without labeling, the source told the publication.
Extra charge without alternative
Orgalutran has no alternative, and it is currently available in a limited number of pharmacies, doctors interviewed by Izvestia said.
"We are seeing a shortage of it," Lyubov Vinogradova, general director of the Skaifert Reproduction Clinic, obstetrician—gynecologist and reproductologist, told Izvestia.
The expert suggested that the pharmacists decided to sell the leftovers at an inflated price and, against the background of a shortage, the buyers were not confused by the "cosmic" price.
"The drug doesn't cost that much, it's much cheaper," the doctor said. — Most likely, since the medicine is important and many protocols cannot be carried out without it, without finding other offers, people decided to buy at an inflated price.
The willingness of people to buy Orgalutran at an inflated price is also due to the fact that women are willing to pay a lot of money for treatment, as they are very interested in conceiving a child, says obstetrician-gynecologist and reproductologist Maria Milutina.
— The drug is administered several times, and you can not skip injections, — she explained. "Perhaps that's why there were buyers for medicines at an inflated price ten times,— she suggested.
There are really problems with Orgalutran in the regions, many of them are not available, Izvestia was convinced by checking the information in pharmacy aggregators. In Moscow and the Moscow region, this drug is available in over 200 pharmacies, in St. Petersburg — in six.
Inflated the deficit
The hype around scarce drugs is in the hands of pharmacists, believes Alexander Nosenko, head of the Center for the Protection of Copyright Holders at the International Anti-Counterfeit Association.
— For example, manufacturers of counterfeit products immediately reacted to the popularity of Ozempik in the world, flooding the market with fakes that did not have the claimed therapeutic effect, — said the expert. — Such medicines have not been properly tested, there are no documents confirming their quality and legality of being in circulation. Pharmacy owners themselves are often victims of deception, irresponsibly buying and reselling such medicines to the public.
Another clear fact of the popularity of unavailable medicines: according to the source, at the time of the searches in "Leksfarm", customers who came from different parts of Moscow and the Moscow region for scarce medicines ordered by phone were constantly knocking on the pharmacy.
"They weren't even afraid of conducting investigative actions," the source said.
A search was also conducted at Margarita Kabayeva's home. According to the source, at first she resisted the operatives: she did not open the door and on the phone asked the pharmacists to destroy the evidence stored in the pharmacy. But then she confessed. 17 million rubles in cash were seized from her apartment — investigators believe that this may be accumulated profits from the sale of scarce medicines that were not carried out through the cash register.
When medicines are imported through other countries, there is and cannot be any quality control, said Nikolay Bespalov, Director of Development at RNC analytical company.
"Therefore, there are no guarantees that the use of the drug will be safe," he said.
According to the expert, illegally imported drugs may at best turn out to be "dummies", meaning there will be no effect from taking them.
— But if there are toxic substances in the composition, such drugs can be harmful to health. For example, it can cause allergies or negatively affect the respiratory, digestive and reproductive organs," he added.
Ozempik can still be purchased on the Healfarma website, Izvestia has confirmed. There it is available on pre—order at a price of 22-23 thousand rubles per syringe - with courier delivery.
What did this pharmacy come across before
"Leksfarma" has previously been caught in the illegal trade of vital medicines. For example, in 2022, at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, a pharmacy sold the drug Artlegia (part of the VED), which was widely used to treat covid patients. You could only buy it by prescription.
The maximum price of Artlegia is 42.9 thousand rubles, the pharmacy sold it for 150 thousand. The operatives "punched" the drug according to the labeling code — according to the documents, it was supplied to one of the capital's medical institutions, where it was allegedly administered to covid patients, which was reflected in the EMIAS system.
A criminal case was opened on this fact, but it was subsequently suspended, the source said. After that, the network changed its legal entity and founder and continued trading.
In addition to substandard medicines, a large number of drugs were seized in the pharmacies of "Leksfarma", which, when scanning the label, were previously sold in pharmacies in other regions. This may mean that the metropolitan chain was buying up scarce medicines in regional pharmacies and reselling them at a more expensive price, suggested Alexander Nosenko.
Medicines were also found, which, according to the "Honest Sign" label, were listed on the remnants of large pharmaceutical distributors — suppliers of medicines to pharmacy chains. The investigators will have to find out why they were in the "Medicine Farm".
Izvestia asked Roszdravnadzor about the last time and in what quantity Ozempik, Orgalutran and Artlegia drugs were put on the market.
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