SKEENA REGION, B.C. – Ozempic, the blockbuster drug known for weight loss, is set to become much cheaper and more accessible in Canada as its patent expires next year. But as telehealth companies prepare to offer generic versions, B.C. patients involved in a class-action lawsuit and medical experts are raising serious alarms about the potential for drug abuse and severe, life-altering side effects.
The Canadian patent for semaglutide—the active ingredient in Ozempic and its weight-loss counterpart, Wegovy—is set to expire in January 2026. This will make Canada the first country where cheaper, generic versions can be sold, likely at a fraction of the current $400-a-month cost.
While this promises greater access for those who need the drug for diabetes or chronic weight management, some experts are deeply concerned.
“My real worry is that if you start getting into a situation where online clinics are handing out these prescriptions willy-nilly to anyone who pays their $50 processing fee,” a Montreal-based cardiologist and epidemiologist told CTV News. “That’s a potential where you’re going to start seeing a lot more harm from these medications.”
Those potential harms are at the heart of a proposed class-action lawsuit filed with the Supreme Court of British Columbia. The lawsuit alleges that the manufacturer did not properly warn users about a variety of adverse side effects, particularly severe gastrointestinal issues.
One B.C. patient involved in the lawsuit described her experience as “hell.”
“I can’t eat, I can only have liquid foods since I’ve taken it, and half the time I vomit those up,” she told CTV News from her home in Surrey. “I’m in such bad pain in my stomach all of the time that I am on a fentanyl patch now.”
When asked about the drug becoming cheaper and more accessible, she said, “It just makes me sick. More people will go through what I’m going through, and I don’t want anybody to go through what I’m going through.”
The manufacturer, Novo Nordisk, stands by the safety and efficacy of its products when used as prescribed and states that its labels provide adequate information on side effects.
For residents of the Skeena, the news means that while a drug touted for weight loss is about to become much more affordable, it comes with serious warnings from both medical experts and patients who have allegedly suffered severe consequences.
