The vendor’s page has before-and-after photos, a WhatsApp number and a promise of “no side effects”. The pen will come by dispatch rider. Before you send anything, here is what NAFDAC’s own records say, and what the people who regulate these medicines worry about.
Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro are prescription medicines, and when we searched NAFDAC’s Greenbook, Nigeria’s public database of registered products, on 7 November 2026, none of them appeared, and neither did their active ingredients, semaglutide and tirzepatide. NAFDAC has said in a public alert that Ozempic isn’t registered in Nigeria, and it has warned about fake Ozempic pens found here, so a pen from an Instagram vendor may not contain what the label says. If the wish for an injection is tangled up with how you feel about food or your body, our eating disorders page is a good place to start.
See a doctor first, and get urgent help if you’re using one of these injections and get severe pain in your stomach or back that doesn’t go away, severe tummy pain, a swollen throat or tongue, a raised itchy rash or difficulty breathing, sweating, shaking, a racing heart, dizziness or confusion, or sudden loss of vision. The NHS lists these as possible serious side effects. If you’ve used a pen you think may be fake, NAFDAC’s advice is to get medical advice immediately. In an emergency, call 112 now (or 767 in Lagos).
What these injections are
Semaglutide is sold as Ozempic for type 2 diabetes and as Wegovy for weight loss. Tirzepatide is sold as Mounjaro. Both are injections that copy gut hormones involved in blood sugar and appetite. The NHS says they work for weight loss by reducing your appetite and helping you feel fuller for longer, and the World Health Organization adds that they slow digestion. Both are prescription-only.
In December 2025 the WHO issued its first guideline on these medicines. It says they may be used by adults living with obesity, though not in pregnancy, as a long-term treatment, alongside healthy eating, physical activity and support from health professionals. The recommendation is conditional, the WHO says, because there’s still limited information on long-term safety and on what happens when people stop. The WHO says only a doctor who has looked at your health history should prescribe them.
What NAFDAC’s records show
NAFDAC’s Greenbook lists the medicines and products NAFDAC has registered. We searched it by brand name and by active ingredient.
| What we searched | What the Greenbook showed on 7 November 2026 |
|---|---|
| Ozempic | No record found |
| Wegovy | No record found |
| Mounjaro | No record found |
| Semaglutide (the ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy) | No record found |
| Tirzepatide (the ingredient in Mounjaro) | No record found |
The search itself was working: it found other diabetes injections registered by the company that makes Ozempic.
NAFDAC’s own words match. Its January 2024 public alert, about fake Ozempic pens found at European wholesalers, says plainly that Ozempic is not registered by NAFDAC. In June 2026, answering a freedom-of-information request from DUBAWA, a Nigerian fact-checking organisation, NAFDAC said medicines for sale in Nigeria generally have to be registered before they’re marketed, and that some unregistered medicines can be imported through “controlled access pathways” under set conditions (as published by DUBAWA; NAFDAC hasn’t posted the reply).
So a missing Greenbook entry doesn’t mean every pen in the country is fake. It does mean there’s no registered version you can look up, and a vendor taking orders on WhatsApp isn’t a controlled access pathway. Registration can change, so check for yourself: search greenbook.nafdac.gov.ng by brand name and by ingredient.
The fake pens
NAFDAC has issued two public alerts about fake Ozempic:
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- May 2023: one batch of falsified Ozempic pens was identified in Nigeria. The fakes were relabelled pens of a different diabetes medicine, so what was inside was nothing like the real thing. NAFDAC said the fakes had been sold through both legal and illegal supply chains.
- January 2024: falsely labelled Ozempic pens were found at wholesalers in the European Union and the UK. They carried batch numbers, barcodes and serial numbers copied from genuine packs.
The WHO issued its own warning in June 2024, saying reports of fake semaglutide had been rising in every region since 2022. A fake may contain none of the real ingredient, or a different one, “leading to an unpredictable range of health risks”.
We couldn’t find a NAFDAC alert about fake Mounjaro or tirzepatide when we checked on 7 November 2026, which tells you only that NAFDAC hasn’t published one.
If you think you have a fake, NAFDAC’s advice is not to use it, to get medical advice if you already have, and to report it to NAFDAC on 0800-1-623322 or sf.alert@nafdac.gov.ng.
Why buying from a vendor is risky
In June 2026 two WHO safety committees reviewed the global rush for these medicines. They noted demand driven heavily by social media, particularly among people who want to lose weight but don’t have obesity, and said self-medication from unverified sources exposes people to “preventable and potentially severe health risks”. Here is what goes missing when nobody prescribes.
No one checks it’s safe for you. The NHS says semaglutide and tirzepatide aren’t used in pregnancy, semaglutide isn’t used while breastfeeding, and semaglutide may not be suitable if you’ve ever had an inflamed pancreas. They can interact with other medicines, and with tirzepatide the NHS advises extra barrier contraception, such as condoms, for a time. A vendor won’t ask about any of this.
Side effects get waved away. DUBAWA’s investigation found vendors telling buyers there were “no side effects”. The WHO lists nausea, vomiting, constipation and diarrhoea as common, and says gallbladder problems, an inflamed pancreas and bowel problems are linked to these medicines and still being studied.
Storage is a gamble. These injections are kept in the fridge. The US Food and Drug Administration says not to use one that arrives warm, which is worth remembering about a pen that has spent an afternoon on a dispatch bike.
The FDA’s red flags. Its list includes no prescription or screening, prices that seem too good to be true, a pen or box that looks different from the real one, damaged packaging and spelling mistakes on the label.
The same urge sells slimming teas; our guide to slimming tea side effects explains what’s often hidden in those.
The mind side
Much of the demand starts with how people feel about their bodies, and the WHO committees named social media as a driver. “You’ve added” at Christmas, a wedding coming up, a photo you hated: the pressure is real. If the worry is fixed on one part of your body that others say looks fine, our post on body dysmorphia describes a condition that changing your body doesn’t settle.
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“Food noise”. That’s the phrase people use online for constant, intrusive thoughts about food. The NHS describes less appetite and feeling full sooner, and a 2025 review of 80 placebo-controlled trials found people on these medicines scored better on emotional eating measures, though the average volunteer was about 60.
Mood and suicidal thoughts. The European and US regulators have both looked at this. In April 2024 the European Medicines Agency’s safety committee concluded the evidence did not support a link between these medicines, semaglutide included, and suicidal thoughts. In January 2026 the FDA reported a review of 91 trials with more than 100,000 people, plus health records of over two million users, that found no increased risk of suicidal thoughts or behaviour, anxiety or depression, and asked for the warning to come off the labels. The FDA still advises telling your doctor about any new or worsening low mood or suicidal thoughts. Those reviews studied genuine medicines; nobody can say what a fake pen does.
Eating disorders. People with mental health conditions have been consistently under-represented in the research, a 2026 review notes, so the evidence for anyone with an eating disorder is thin. If you’ve had one, tell the doctor before anything else. If what you want from an injection is to barely eat, please talk to someone first. Our guide to recognising an eating disorder in Nigeria lists the signs, and our binge eating disorder guide explains how strict food rules feed bingeing.
When it stops. The WHO describes these as long-term treatments and says what happens when people stop is still being studied. A 2025 review of 18 trials found weight tended to come back after people stopped. If stress or feelings were driving your eating before, they still need dealing with, which is what our guide to emotional eating is about.
If you’re having thoughts of ending your life, call 112 (or 767 in Lagos), or Safe Place Nigeria on 0800 800 2000, free and open 24 hours. The full list is on our helplines page.
Getting proper help
If you’re thinking about these injections, start with a doctor who will take your health history, examine you and take responsibility for anything prescribed. The WHO’s guideline says structured support with eating and activity may be offered alongside the medicine.
A therapist can work alongside that doctor, never instead of one. Therapy helps with stress eating and with the body shame that family comments and timelines feed. It isn’t a weight-loss treatment. You can find a therapist who works with eating disorders and body image on Mytherapist.ng and talk by video, voice or chat.
Frequently asked questions
Is Ozempic approved in Nigeria?
NAFDAC said in a January 2024 alert that Ozempic is not registered by NAFDAC, and it didn’t appear in the NAFDAC Greenbook when we searched on 7 November 2026. Registration can change, so search greenbook.nafdac.gov.ng yourself.
Is Mounjaro registered by NAFDAC?
Neither Mounjaro nor its ingredient, tirzepatide, appeared in the Greenbook on 7 November 2026. We found no NAFDAC alert about it either.
How can I tell if an Ozempic pen is fake?
Often you can’t: some fakes carried batch numbers and barcodes copied from genuine packs. NAFDAC’s 2023 alert has photos comparing real and fake pens. If you suspect a fake, don’t use it, and report it to NAFDAC on 0800-1-623322.
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Do weight loss injections cause depression?
Reviews by the European Medicines Agency in 2024 and the FDA in 2026 found no increased risk of suicidal thoughts, depression or anxiety with genuine medicines. Tell your doctor about any new low mood anyway; nobody knows what a fake pen contains.
This article is awaiting clinical review. It’s based on published research and health guidelines, and we’ll update it once a clinician has reviewed it.
