Round 10:30 p.m. on a Friday in late January, David Fernando, a pharmacist, was working behind a counter at a drugstore in São Paulo when a person walked as much as him and flashed a gun. “He requested for cash from the register and medicines from the fridge,” Mr. Fernando stated.
Lately, pharmacists in São Paulo — Brazil’s largest metropolis — know precisely what thieves imply once they say “medicines from the fridge.”
They’re after Ozempic, Wegovy and Saxenda, the injectable weight-loss medication many Brazilians covet however that the majority can’t afford, in a rustic obsessive about physique picture however the place weight problems is on the rise.
The thief made off with 5 containers, every of which generally holds a month’s provide and prices 700 to 1,100 Brazilian reais, or about $120 to $190, whereas the typical month-to-month revenue is about $300.
Although the armed theft unnerved Mr. Fernando, 36, it was not precisely a shock. The identical pharmacy was held up for a similar medication twice in late 2024, he stated. Now a safety guard is posted exterior.
4 blocks north, one other pharmacy has taken even larger precautions after a police officer interrupted an Ozempic theft in August, leading to a shootout that left an older girl injured.
On a current afternoon two armed guards stood watch, one contained in the entrance door and the opposite close to a again room the place the refrigerated weight-loss medication are saved.
Whereas a smattering of media experiences present thieves are after Ozempic elsewhere on the earth — together with late-night break-ins at pharmacies in Michigan, and in Santiago de Compostela, Spain — Brazil has turn out to be a first-rate international sizzling spot for criminals coveting the massively fashionable weight-loss medication.
São Paulo, specifically, has turn out to be a nexus as a result of it’s by some measures Brazil’s richest metropolis with many rich neighborhoods the place loads of pharmacies inventory the medication as a result of sufficient folks can afford them. And today thieves have little drawback discovering consumers on WhatsApp and Fb teams.
The concentrating on of pharmacies has left staff fearful and has led some shops to cut back their provide of weight-loss medication. The robberies are “positively a rising pattern,” stated Pedro Ivo Corrêa dos Santos, a police chief in São Paulo State’s Division of Legal Investigation.
Pharmacies are sometimes straightforward targets, the police chief added. “Many function 24/7, storing the product in a fridge with no actual safety, solely protected by the pharmacist,” he stated.
A New York Instances evaluation of a São Paulo State database discovered that robberies of pharmacies by which Ozempic, Wegovy or Saxenda had been stolen jumped notably within the final three years, from a sole recorded episode in 2022 — 4 containers of Ozempic taken from a single drugstore — to 18 robberies in 2023, and 39 final 12 months.
The numbers are virtually definitely undercounts, since about half the reported robberies didn’t specify the medicines taken.
RD Saúde and Grupo DPS, two firms that personal pharmacy chains in São Paulo the place most of the robberies have taken place, declined to remark. Many impartial pharmacies say they now not maintain the medication within the retailer.
“Anybody who shares Ozempic can’t work in peace,” stated Wilson Martins, the supervisor of Farma O Imperador, an impartial pharmacy in western São Paulo. “Folks ask ‘Do you could have Ozempic?’” he added. “No, we don’t. And that method, we don’t get robbed.”
Prospects who need one of many weight-loss medication now should order it in individual and make an appointment to select it up. However for good measure, Mr. Martins, 72, nonetheless retains a leather-sheathed machete behind the counter.
Some prison gangs have been robbing vehicles making wholesale Ozempic deliveries, Mr. Corrêa dos Santos stated. One gang that the police dismantled final 12 months included workers of a transport firm.
Drug producers and distributors should report losses of medicines ensuing from crimes or different causes to Anvisa, the Brazilian company that regulates meals and medicines. Its figures present that 4,770 Ozempic injection pens had been stolen or misplaced in 2023 and surged to eight,220 pens final in 2024.
The rash of robberies of weight-loss medication comes amid hovering gross sales of the treatment in a rustic the place reaching a finely tuned physique is revered and that, like many nations, is rising fatter.
The share of adults in its largest cities thought-about overweight elevated to about 24 p.c in 2023 from almost 12 p.c in 2006, in accordance with a Well being Ministry examine.
A number of Brazilian celebrities have spoken publicly about utilizing Ozempic or related medication, together with singers Luiza Possi, Wesley Safadão and Jojo Todynho.
“The wave of thefts started when social media began brazenly discussing the drug, significantly as celebrities and influencers showcased dramatic weight reduction,” stated Renata Gonçalves, the pinnacle of a union of pharmacists for the state of São Paulo.
Even Rio de Janeiro’s mayor, Eduardo Paes, stated throughout his marketing campaign in 2024 that he “took loads of Ozempic” and misplaced about 65 kilos, and pledged to make the drug obtainable free of charge.
“Rio will likely be a metropolis with out chubby folks anymore,’’ he stated.
In Brazil, Ozempic gross sales grew from $27.5 million in 2019, to $621.6 million in 2023, the final 12 months for which full figures had been obtainable, in accordance with IQVIA, a world supplier of well being care information. (The Brazilian market nonetheless pales compared to the US, the place gross sales totaled $30.3 billion in 2023.)
Rodrigo Lima, who has labored for pharmacy chains for 20 years and is now head of operations for Ultrafarma, a São Paulo-based chain, stated different high-cost pharmacy merchandise have been focused prior to now.
However the excessive price of Ozempic, he stated, has “sparked an enormous demand for this stuff, resulting in specialised gangs with an eye fixed on that slice of the market.”
Whereas it’s pretty straightforward to promote and purchase stolen weight-loss medication on the net, criminals might not be capable to guarantee consumers concerning the high quality of the medication as soon as they’re taken out of chilly storage. A number of pharmacists in São Paulo repeatedly pressured that only a few hours at room temperature renders the medicines ineffective.
“They take the medicines out to the automotive in a trash bag,” stated Andrea Lima, the supervisor of a department of the Drogaria São Paulo chain the place a policeman foiled an tried theft final Could. “How lengthy do they go away it within the trunk?”
Ultrafarma’s technique, stated Mr. Lima, has been to put in higher safety cameras and cut back inventory in company-owned shops.
One Ultrafarma retailer that was robbed in 2023 has gone even additional, stated Leandro Rodrigo Santos, the shop’s supervisor. It now not retains Ozempic in inventory so clients need to order it and have it delivered to their dwelling.
However even that has dangers.
Wellington Vieira, chief of a Rio de Janeiro police division that investigates consumer-related crimes, stated the company had obtained experiences of teams who order a number of containers of Ozempic to a house after which pull a switcheroo.
When a supply employee arrives, two folks reply the door. One tries a number of occasions to pay with an invalid bank card, whereas the opposite accepts the package deal and switches out the actual Ozempic for a counterfeit model. When the acquisition is ultimately canceled, the supply employee unknowingly returns to the pharmacy with the pretend treatment.
Ozempic bandits might quickly confront a power extra highly effective than the police: economics. Novo Nordisk’s Brazilian patent for semaglutide, the energetic ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy, expires in 2026, and pharmaceutical firms are racing to get approval to provide generic variations that can virtually definitely trigger costs to tumble.
For now, some pharmacists are turning to the next energy for cover. Elis Regina Peixoto manages a pharmacy in japanese São Paulo that has to this point gone unscathed. “Within the identify of Jesus,” she stated, “we won’t be robbed.”
