On the afternoon of the 17th, Wegovy was placed at a new pharmacy in Jongno-gu, Seoul. [Photo Credit = Yonhap News]
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety and the Korea Customs Service announced on the 22nd that they are cracking down on illegal online purchases and sales of newly launched Wegovy, a Glucagon-like Peptide-1 (GLP-1) obesity treatment, on social media and other online platforms.
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety has requested cooperation to conduct voluntary monitoring by setting obesity treatments as prohibited words on major online shopping sites. Additionally, they are identifying and requesting the Korean Communications Standards Commission to block access to posts that facilitate or advertise illegal online sales.
Since Wegovy was launched domestically on the 15th, 12 related violation posts have been detected and taken action upon.
The Ministry explained that obesity treatments like Wegovy should be administered according to the prescribed dosage and method, with a doctor’s prescription, a pharmacist’s preparation, and guidance at a medical institution or pharmacy. They emphasized that purchasing through overseas direct transactions can make it difficult to verify the authenticity of the medication due to unclear manufacturing and distribution channels.
They also advised against purchasing and using obesity treatments like Wegovy sold on online platforms.