EU starts media campaign to encourage safe GLP-1 use

The EMA has started working with social media content creators to try to encourage "safe and responsible" use of GLP-1 agonist medicines, after seeing a sharp rise in illegal versions of the drugs on sale in the EU.

Drugs like Novo Nordisk's semaglutide-based Ozempic and Wegovy, and Eli Lilly's Mounjaro (tirzepatide), have been shown to be effective at weight management in people living with obesity and weight-related health conditions, said the regulator.

However, they have "captured widespread public attention beyond the medical community," fuelled by news coverage, social media, and celebrity endorsements, which has led to soaring use for weight loss and is placing people at risk of "misinformation, misuse and other issues like illegal sales of counterfeit products."

The #HealthNotHype campaign "is about passing the message that GLP-1 receptor agonists are not magic solutions for weight loss," according to the EMA's executive director Emer Cooke.

"Like all medicines, they have benefits and risks and are not for everyone. They are long-term treatments that must be accompanied by other lifestyle changes, always under the supervision of a doctor," she added.

"By working with content creators, we want to ensure that validated scientific information is part of the conversations people are having on social media about these medicines."

The month-long campaign is being disseminated by social media content creators in Finland, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Portugal, Slovenia, and Spain, who collectively boast around 1.4m followers.

Shipments of falsified versions of semaglutide, tirzepatide and other GLP-1 drugs labelled as containing liraglutide and retatrutide have been found in the global supply chain, some of which have been found on analysis to contain the wrong amount of active ingredient, no active ingredient at all, or even hazardous substitutes like insulin.

In addition, the lack of provenance of these knock-off products raises the risk that they may be made in facilities that do not adhere to manufacturing standards – a particular concern as they are administered by injection and could result in serious complications if, for example, they are not sterile.