Mounting demand for Novo Nordisk-made Ozempic and Wegovy has fueled a rise in illegal sales of the weight-loss drugs in Denmark, where the pharmaceutical company is based, the Danish Medicines Agency reported.
The agency said in a statement issued Tuesday that authorities know of 26 websites illicitly selling what they claim to be Ozempic and Wegovy.
The drugs, which were initially prescribed as once-weekly shots to treat Type 2 diabetes but have since gained immense mainstream popularity for its miraculous weight-loss effects.
“There are no surprises or new trends that we were not already aware of.As a result of the great demand and media attention, we had unfortunately expected an increased illegal supply of the semaglutide preparations Ozempic and Wegovy,” Danish Medicines Agency head Jeanna Majland said in the statement, which was earlier reported on by Bloomberg.
America’s Food and Drug Administration has also reportedly launched an investigation into so-called “faux-zempic” after health authorities were tipped off to numerous fraudulent schemes of counterfeit Ozempic trafficking in the US.
In addition, the European Medicines Agency last month issued a warning against counterfeit Ozempic pens, which the organization said boasted labels in German “falsely labeled as diabetes medicine Ozempic” with 1 milligram of semaglutide for injection.
Both Ozempic and Wegovy are semaglutide injections, a type of strong medication that mimics the actions of the GLP-1 hormone, which the pancreas releases after eating that makes people feel full.
A representatives for Novo Nordisk told The Post that the company has filed legal actions against medical spas, and weight-loss and medical clinics, as well as “pharmacies that are engaging in the unlawful sales of compounded products claiming to contain semaglutide.”
“In addition, we have been and will continue to issue cease-and-desist letters to entities engaged in similar conduct,” the spokesperson said.
Since the Ozempic and Wegovy craze took effect, their appetite-suppressing benefits have taken both Hollywood and non-celebrities by storm so much so that even Walmart said the medications were causing shoppers to pare back on groceries.
Customers haven’t seemed to mind the series of bizarre side effects that have emerged, including Ozempic butt where users are claiming that their derrires have flattened along with their tummies.
Users later warned of Ozempic finger, where finger and wrist sizes were rapidly shrinking too, causing women to fear that their engagement rings would fall off.
The latest — and much more serious — side effect saw patients reporting that the medicines triggered thoughts of suicide and self-harm.
Last month, the pharma giant overtook French luxury empire LVMH as Europe’s most valuable company.
Novo Nordisk saw its market capitalization surge to $424.7 billion during Sept. 1 trading in London — beating out the luxury retail conglomerate owned by the family of Bernard Arnault.
The same day, LVMH — which has been Europes most valuable company for two-and-a-half years and includes brands Louis Vuitton, Dior, and Sephora — had a market cap of $420.1 billion, according to Refinitiv data cited by the Reuters news agency.
As of Wednesday, the Danish multinational company’s market value has dropped to $333 billion.
It strengthens ties between Ukraine and the US which have been fraying to the point of disintegration.
But will it increase the chances of a diplomatic breakthrough to find peace? Possibly not. Without that, this agreement will have changed little in this pointless grinding war.
But it does give Donald Trump a personal political investment in a conflict he has always seemed to have regarded as someone else’s fault, someone else’s problem and a money pit for US resources.
On the face of it, it is a purely economic agreement.
Ukraine had wanted to tie in explicit guarantees of continuing US military support. The details are scant but they appear to be absent.
But reaching agreement is a considerable diplomatic achievement on both sides.
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3:49
Trump and Zelenskyy – it’s complicated?
The idea of a minerals deal was initially proposed by President Zelenskyy but at times he must have regretted it as acrimonious talks threatened to torpedo US support for Ukraine entirely.
It was meant to have been signed in February before the infamous Zelenskyy-Trump-Vance bust up in the Oval Office.
At one point it looked like an act of extortion. Like gangsters running a protection racket, the US seemed to be demanding all Ukraine’s mineral wealth in return for continued support.
But the terms now look less onerous. Most importantly it seems the Trump administration is not asking retrospectively for the return of billions given by the Biden administration, by means of this minerals extraction agreement.
The turning point in negotiations appears to have been the meeting engineered between Mr Trump and Mr Zelenskyy on the sidelines of the Pope’s funeral in Rome on Saturday. Mr Zelenskyy appears to have persuaded Mr Trump it was a deal worth signing.
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10:47
From February: Watch Trump and Zelenskyy clash
The terms are vague and not detailed but the agreement appears to be more of a long term proposal for joint cooperation over Ukraine’s economic future.
America will invest in exploiting Ukraine’s mineral wealth but also share the profits years down the line.
The signing comes at a crucial time for Ukraine. Its forces are losing ground on the battlefield. And Mr Trump’s efforts to broker peace look decidedly one-sided against them.
Falling in line on this deal was essential for Ukrainians. Whether it saves them from President Trump walking away and ending military support for them anyway, is by no means certain.
Banking giant Morgan Stanley reportedly plans to list cryptocurrencies on its E*Trade investment brokerage and trading platform.
According to a May 1 Bloomberg report, the firm intends to list crypto assets on E*Trade in 2026. The plan is still in early development, and the bank is said to be exploring partnerships with established crypto firms to power the service. Internal discussions about cryptocurrency support reportedly began in late 2024.
This would not be Morgan Stanley’s first exposure to digital assets. The bank’s wealthiest clients have had access to crypto exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and futures for some time, with the firm’s advisers allowed to pitch Bitcoin ETFs since August 2024.
The news follows previous reports that Morgan Stanley was considering adding cryptocurrency trading to its E*Trade online brokerage platform in early January. The reports at the time cited the expectations of a friendlier crypto regulatory environment.
The move comes amid an increasingly favorable regulatory environment in the United States following the election of President Donald Trump, who campaigned on a pro-crypto platform and is personally involved in several blockchain ventures.
People walk past an advertisement feature Donald Trump with Bitcoin in Hong Kong.
May James | Lightrocket | Getty Images
As President Donald Trump hit the 100-day mark this week for his second term in office, his approval numbers were lower than for any administration at this point in over seven decades.
Don’t tell that to the crypto community.
Trump ran for office on a promise to make America “the crypto capital of the world.” Those who got behind that message say he’s already delivered, or at least gotten off to a hot start.
A blitz of executive actions, strategic appointments, and early wins, from the creation of a Strategic Bitcoin Reserve to the rollback of enforcement-heavy SEC tactics, has left the industry feeling more welcome in Washington, D.C., than ever.
“Every single appointment — I’m happy with from a crypto perspective,” said Nic Carter, founding partner at Castle Island Ventures. “The previous financial regulatory apparatus was dead set against crypto, and now it’s been a total 180 compared to that.”
President Trump faced early blowback after proposing the possibility of a strategic crypto reserve that would go beyond bitcoin and include other digital currencies like ether, XRP, Solana’sSOL token and Cardano’s ADA. Skeptics said taxpayer dollars shouldn’t be spent on such risky assets. The president soon narrowed the plan to focus solely on bitcoin and made clear he wouldn’t use taxpayer funds to support a government buying strategy.
He’s also been criticized by some for launching a meme coin that’s added billions of dollars in paper wealth to his net worth. The $TRUMP token surged earlier this month after its website announced that top holders would be invited to a private dinner with the president. His family is also involved in other crypto projects.
“It doesn’t really help to have members of his family do encrypted projects of their own,” Carter said. “I understand that they are interested in the industry and want to engage with it, but the optics are not that favorable around that.”
But for the most part, that behavior is being ignored as the crypto industry prefers to focus its attention elsewhere even as the president’s job approval broadly sits at just 43%, according to an average of recent national polls.
At the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, Jonathan Gould has signaled support for issuing new bank charters to crypto firms. During President Joe Biden’s presidency, that was almost unthinkable.
“We’ll see a lot of new crypto firms getting bank charters,” Carter said. “And new banks getting set up that are expressively focused on crypto and stablecoins.”
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, under interim chair Travis Hill, is also making moves. Crypto fans have applauded his efforts to expose what industry insiders call “Choke Point 2.0,” an alleged coordinated effort by regulators during the Biden presidency to pressure banks into severing ties with crypto.
Paul Atkins, the new chair of the SEC, represents a stark contrast to predecessor Gary Gensler, who was a notorious hardliner when it came to crypto regulations and enforcement. Carter said the SEC under Atkins has already begun working directly with crypto stakeholders, including Castle Island, to craft guidance on token issuance and the line between securities and commodities.
“This is the clarity we’ve been asking for,” Carter said. “Even barring a legislative solution, I think the SEC is going to come out with real guidance around tokens and how a domestic crypto firm can operate.”
Atkins made his first public appearance just four days into the job by opening a crypto roundtable — a move that sent a clear signal to industry participants. Last week, Atkins hosted a half-day session at SEC headquarters in Washington, D.C., focused on crypto innovation and custody. The event took place weeks after the regulator formally dropped its long-running lawsuit against Ripple, a symbolic end to a four-year battle between the SEC and the crypto industry.
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Veronica McGregor, the chief legal officer of Exodus and aparticipant in the SEC’s crypto roundtable,echoed Carter’s sentiment in calling the approach a “180 pivot.”
“Just having the roundtables are kind of surprising and refreshing,” said McGregor, who contributed to the political advocacy group Stand With Crypto during the 2024 campaign. “Given that we have an administration that is touting itself as pro-crypto and making some changes that need to be made, I would say those donations were strategically placed and are paying off.”
Waiting on the Fed
Trump has tapped Brian Quintenz, currently policy chief for the crypto group at venture firm Andreessen Horowitz, to lead the Commodity Futures Trading Commission.
Carter cautioned that the Federal Reserve remains a “structural holdout.” While banks can now custody crypto, thanks to the repeal of an accounting rule called SAB 121, they still can’t work directly with crypto firms “unless the Fed says they can,” Carter said.
The FDIC and OCC have rescinded their anti-crypto guidance, but the Federal Reserve has only partially followed suit. A notice from Jan. 2023 continues to restrict banks from certain crypto-related activities.
“The Fed is still the blocker for banks to deal with stablecoins for crypto,” Carter said.
Brian Armstrong, CEO of Coinbase, speaking on CNBC’s Squawk Box outside the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland on Jan. 21st, 2025.
Gerry Miller | CNBC
Still, the industry has largely gotten what it wants.
“It wasn’t all that long ago that we had an administration that not only was skeptical of this entirely new technology, but was in fact hostile to it,” Grewal said.“Now we have a White House and a wider administration that is not only welcoming of digital assets and blockchain-based technologies, but embracing it in a number of different ways, and that really has stood out in the first 100 days.”
Grewal also pointed to some bipartisan momentum in Congress, including bills on stablecoins and market structure.
“We’ve got one issue, it seems, where the White House, together with Republicans on the Hill, have worked together with Democrats in both houses of the Congress to get digital asset legislation on the move,” Grewal said.
Grewal praised the SEC for soliciting public input and opening the door to industry participation on topics like custody and market structure.
Faryar Shirzad, Coinbase’s chief policy officer, said the administration has already met two core expectations: ending the regulatory crackdown on crypto and working with Congress to deliver clarity.
He said he’s been pleasantly surprised by the scope of the administration’s ambitions to go beyond bitcoin and to integrate blockchain technology across the broader financial system.
“They are moving much more aggressively to try to implement crypto and blockchain technology in the broader capital markets,” he said. At the SEC, he said, that includes tokenizing the equities market and examining how that fits within traditional regulatory frameworks.
Shirzad also noted that bank regulators have begun exploring blockchain-based payment systems. Beyond the $3 trillion crypto market, he said the administration’s target appears to be the $100 trillion capital markets, “and I think that’s something that people should pay close attention to.”
Ripple Chief Legal Officer Stu Alderoty, now president of the National Cryptocurrency Association, said internal data shows that 73% of U.S. crypto holders want to see the country become a global leader in the space.
“The government and the industry can now move out of the courtroom and invest in what the U.S. does best — innovation,” Alderoty told CNBC.
Fred Thiel, CEO of bitcoin mining firm MARA Holdings, pointed to early wins for his slice of the industry. He said the administration’s support for mining technology allows companies “to strengthen the U.S. economy and grid.”
Thiel, who participated in the first White House Digital Assets Summit, praised the swift appointment of pro-crypto officials and the launch of the President’s Council of Advisers on Digital Assets.
Dan Lawrence CEO of OBM, which manages energy use for industrial-scale mining farms, said the administration’s pro-energy stance has made bitcoin a natural tool for incentivizing new power infrastructure.
“Bitcoin is a great way to incentivize the build out of that power,” Lawrence said.“It’s really great to see bitcoin being acknowledged at the federal level.”