Nurse charged with giving patients fake Ozempic in Chicago
Federal prosecutors announced Wednesday that they have charged a registered nurse to giving counterfeit Ozempic to patients in Chicago.
Sharon Charitine Sackman, 52, was charged with distributing the counterfeit drugs to three people in Chicago in 2023, according to a criminal complaint filed Dec. 5 in U.S. District Court.
The drugs were labeled as Ozempic, but were not manufactured by Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk, and did not even contain semaglutide, the active ingredient in the weight loss drug, prosecutors said.
Meanwhile, prosecutors Sackman was a registered professional nurse, but did not have a license to prescribe, administer, dispense, or sell Ozempic.
Sackman, who now lives in Playa de Carmen, Mexico, was charged with one count of distributing misbranded drugs and three counts of dispensing counterfeit drugs, prosecutors said. Each count could result in a year in federal prison upon conviction.
Sackman was arraigned on Tuesday of this week in U.S. District Court in Chicago, and pleaded not guilty, prosecutors said. She is to return to court for a status hearing before U.S. Magistrate Judge Laura K. McNally on Feb. 3.
Ozempic is a weight-loss injection drug that suppresses users' appetites, helping them lose weight. It is designed for adults with Type 2 diabetes and helps adults lower blood sugar, and it also has been shown to reduce heart and kidney problems.