Weight-loss drugs make their way into India (illegally). Why should we be wary

In Hollywood, Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro are being praised loudly and openly by celebs that use it to shed the extra kilos. But these ‘weight loss miracle drugs’ are also being hailed in India by a few in hushed whispers, after experiencing the results personally.

The drugs have managed to make their way into the Indian market on the sly – they are not available openly yet – and the affluent few are rushing to get their hands on it. In fact, a black market has emerged for these drugs, with dealers selling small doses of the drugs at exorbitant levels. The Economic Times found two suppliers willing to sell one mg of Ozempic for Rs 23,000 and Mounjaro at Rs 7,000 for 2.5 mg, going up to Rs 24,000 for 12.5 mg.

Here’s what we know about the use of these drugs – Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro – and why this could prove harmful not just for the users but also the Indian market.

The rage among Indians

Ozempic and Wegovy, manufactured by Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk and Mounjaro, created by Eli Lilly and Company, haven’t yet officially entered the Indian market. Novo Nordisk has told Reuters that it eyes a 2026 launch in India, seeing a huge opportunity in the country.

But that doesn’t mean that these drugs aren’t available here. Many people who have the big bucks aren’t hesitating to source it illegally from other countries.

An Economic Times report has doctors saying that they are very often asked for the drugs by their richer patients. “It’s coming up in conversations everywhere. Patients ask me about it all the time,” Ambrish Mithal, chairman and head of endocrinology, Max Healthcare, told ET.

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The news report also stated that the demand for these drugs is not restricted to just metros like Delhi and Mumbai, but even from cities like Varanasi and Ahmedabad.

A health concern

But don’t just rush in to get your hands on these drugs, doctors warn. These injectable drugs – which contain semaglutide that “mimics a hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) targeting areas of the brain that regulate appetite and food”, have some dangerous side effects that people need to be made aware of.

A research paper published in the Journal of the American Medical Association said that people who take popular drugs for weight loss, such as Ozempic or Wegovy, may be at an increased risk of severe stomach problems.

The study found that people injecting themselves with these drugs were at a higher risk of serious digestive problems such as pancreatitis, and bowel obstructions. Pancreatitis, or inflammation of the pancreatitis, occurred at a rate of about five cases per 1,000 users of semaglutide and eight cases per 1,000 users of liraglutide. The condition causes severe abdominal pain and, in some cases, requires hospitalisation and surgery.

Bowel obstructions — which occur when a blockage prevents food or liquid from moving through the intestines — were seen at a rate of eight cases per 1,000 users of liraglutide. There were no observed cases in semaglutide users.

Mohit Sodhi, the lead author of the study, and a medical student at the University Of British Columbia Faculty Of Medicine in Vancouver, noted that while the cases were rare, it was pertinent that people were informed of the potential risks involved with these drugs.

There have also been studies that have linked the use of these drugs to the rare disease of gastroparesis, or stomach paralysis – it limits the passage of food from the stomach to the small intestine.

Dr Simon Cork, senior lecturer in physiology at Anglia Ruskin University in the UK said that even though the research said that developing these ailments were rare, it was very important that people are informed. “Whilst the likelihood of developing these conditions is still rare, when scaled up to the numbers who could potentially be prescribed these drugs we could start to see many people experiencing adverse effects from their use,” he said to the Daily Mail.

And a potential gastrointestinal ailment isn’t the only danger from injecting yourself with these drugs.

UK health authorities as well as the European Union are investigating if these drugs could induce suicidal thoughts in people. The US Food and Drug Administration, in fact, reported in September at least 1,000 reports of adverse mental health side effects related to the class of drugs known as GLP-1 agonists – for the common man, this includes Wegovy and Ozempic.

Apart from these health risks, the New York Times has also reported that an extreme risk of Ozempic was malnutrition. There’s also the risk of muscle shedding, an added concern for those above the age of 65. The more muscle someone over the age of 65 loses, the greater their risk of becoming frail or suffering a fracture or fall (which can be fatal in older adults). It is crucial for older adults to maintain muscle mass so that they can stay mobile and independent.

Food fight

There’s also the added concern that the success of these weight loss drugs could lead to a dip in the food market, as they retrain people on how to eat.

This fear has already been voiced by president and CEO of Walmart’s US operations. On 4 October, in an interview to Bloomberg, John Furner, the Walmart head, said: “We definitely do see a slight change compared to the total population; we do see a slight pullback in overall basket.”

Conagra Brands, an American consumer packaged goods, which includes brands such as Healthy Choice, Duncan Hines and Marie Callender’s, also concurred. During a Thursday call with Wall Street analysts, Conagra CEO Sean Connolly said that the company will adjust as needed if customers eat less or want different types of food. “Let’s say they go to smaller portions, then we evolve the innovations, and we design smaller portions,” Connolly said.

Morgan Stanley in a study has also found that consumption of baked goods and salty snacks could fall by three per cent or even more if the new eating habits extend to more people. If this happens, it could put companies such as Hershey, Mondelez, PepsiCo, and General Mills at risk.

Even strategists at Barclays said the drugs have so much promise as weight-loss aids that investors should short junk-food stocks, reported Fortune.

So, before you think of getting your hands on these drugs, think again. While the benefits of these drugs seem to outweigh the cons, in the long run that may not be the case.

With inputs from agencies