Why Ozempic Overdoses And Hospitalizations Are Up But You Aren’t Hearing About It

Last month, Kate Moss’s half-sister Lottie Moss opened up on her YouTube channel about her harrowing, near-death experience on popular weight loss drug Ozempic. The 26-year-old British model shared that taking Ozempic was the worst decision of her life, stating, “I’d rather die any day than take that again.”

Moss, like many celebrities, fell victim to the Ozempic lure because she wasn’t happy with her body and wanted to lose weight quickly. In her podcast, Moss shared how she got the injections from a friend rather than directly from a doctor like patients are supposed to. Of course, this is never advisable because a trained medical professional is the only one who can confirm if a medication or treatment is viable. However, this doesn’t take away from the devastation Ozempic caused to Moss’s body. She later discovered that the injections she’d taken were meant for a 100kg (approximately 220lb) patient, and Moss falls far short of that threshold. 

After only two doses of Ozempic, Moss suffered from such severe vomiting that her friend had to rush her to the hospital. Shortly thereafter, she had a seizure from extreme dehydration, her face lost all color, and her body lost all control. Moss, who said she’d never been so sick, or so terrified, in her life, shed light on the harsh reality of taking a drug that isn’t meant for your body. Since this incident, she has stopped Ozempic and has been very outspoken about how GLP-1 agonists should be avoided unless absolutely necessary (in the case of obesity or type II diabetes, as the FDA has approved). She has expressed that she wishes that celebrities would stop normalizing this drug and downplaying its side effects because it almost cost her her life.

The Dangers of Fake Ozempic Pens

Unfortunately, Lottie Moss is not the only Ozempic user to suffer such severe side effects that she had to be hospitalized. And she’s also not the only person who wrongfully (i.e., without a healthcare provider’s prescription) got her hands on a semaglutide.

Healthline speculates that the culprit for the increase in overdoses and hospitalizations is the circulation of compounded semaglutide, also referred to as fake Ozempic pens. Compounded drugs are legal but non-FDA-approved versions of a prescription drug that are made when a patient cannot access the brand name version. This is not an uncommon practice in the medical field when prescription drugs are in high demand but in low supply – and there’s more of a motive for compounded drugs when the brand name is costly, as Ozempic is.

Compounded semaglutide requires patients to measure each injection’s dosing themselves, making it extremely easy to overdose.

A compounded drug is formed when a pharmacist or doctor combines or alters the ingredients of a medication to create a new one. Typically, the active ingredient (in this case, semaglutide) is the same as the brand name, but the inactive materials will vary. Because the FDA doesn’t formally evaluate compounded drugs, their safety, efficacy, and side effect profiles are largely unknown. And in the case of compounded semaglutide, the FDA suggests that patients be extra cautious. This is because rather than coming in a pre-measured pen, compounded semaglutide requires patients to measure each injection’s dosing themselves, making it extremely easy to overdose.

For this reason, an increasing number of patients like Lottie Moss are finding themselves in the emergency room with serious health implications. According to the New York Times data, in 2024 alone, there have been 159 calls to poison control about semaglutide overdoses, a sharp increase from the 32 calls made in 2023.

While the FDA blames self-administered dosing for the rise in hospitalizations, perhaps who we should be holding accountable are the greedy drugmakers and crooked doctors who overprescribed this incredibly dangerous medication and destroyed its supply chain. Novo Nordisk issued one statement in June of 2023 warning patients of the potential dangers of counterfeit Ozempic pens that began to circulate. However, they haven’t spoken on the issue since it progressed in 2024, and they’ve failed to acknowledge the uptick in hospitalizations and overdoses. Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly have also barely addressed or explained how to resolve the more than two-year semaglutide supply shortage that we’ve faced. 

The Root of Recent Semaglutide Problems

It’s important to note that not all compounded medications are created the same – and not all are as dangerous as counterfeit Ozempic. Sometimes, compounded medications can be a great alternative for a patient who can’t take the FDA-approved version of a drug, most commonly in the case of an allergy. However, this is not the case with Ozempic.

The reason that compounded semaglutide has become so widespread is because of manufacturing shortages. And when supply is low but demand is very high like it is with Ozempic, people find alternative ways to get their prescription meds. Both existing and prospective patients are so desperate to get their hands on Ozempic that they’re willing to take huge risks.

Another reason that healthcare providers will make a compounded medication is when the brand name is prohibitively expensive. Without health insurance, Ozmepic is over $900 per month. And most insurance plans will only cover a portion of that cost, leaving patients to pay a couple hundred dollars out of pocket. For reference, according to 2022 data, the average American spends around $116 monthly for prescription medications (or $1,400 annually). By this logic, Ozempic is far above the national average, which is arguably not even affordable for many Americans in this economy. 

Without the semaglutide shortage caused by overprescription and grossly high drug prices caused by Big Pharma, there would be no reason for counterfeit Ozempic at all. And all these hospitalizations and overdoses wouldn’t have happened. So why are we allowing drugmakers to sit back and continue to profit off our health in silence? 

Since both mainstream media and Big Pharma profit immensely off our reliance on them, they need our trust in order to operate.

Why Mainstream Media Underreports Ozempic Dangers

While some publications have reported on Ozempic overdoses and hospitalizations, it’s a largely under-discussed topic, which is terrifying for such a serious health issue. One highly likely explanation for this is that the majority of FDA side effect monitoring relies on a patient reporting platform called MedWatch, making the data very limited if patients do not want to share their experience. And since obesity is such a stigmatized condition to begin with, many people don’t want to admit that they’re on a weight loss drug. For this reason, it can be assumed that semaglutide related overdoses and hospitalizations are much higher than what is actually reported. 

Another possibility for underreporting is that the FDA doesn’t regulate compounded medications, so all the counterfeit Ozempic pens going around are kept rather hush-hush. And patients are understandably extra conservative when it comes to sharing side effects from a medication that they didn’t obtain in an ethical way. 

But another plausible explanation is that the media doesn’t want Big Pharma to look bad. Mainstream media controls the belief systems of Americans by choosing which stories to publish and which to withhold. Similarly, large pharmaceutical companies control American health outcomes through the medications they put on the market. Since both systems profit immensely off our reliance on them, they need our trust in order to operate – and exposing the dangers of its blockbuster weight loss drug would certainly destroy that trust.