 Here’s what you need to know to get the day started: | | | Hundreds of websites are selling fake Ozempic, says company. Doctors say it's only going to get worse | | |  | Ozempic, a brand name for the diabetes and weight-loss drug semaglutide, is so highly sought-after that there's a black market for counterfeit versions and scams. (Joel Saget/AFP/Getty Images) | | | Dr. Sean Wharton was not surprised to learn about a surge in shady websites selling what are alleged to be counterfeit versions of popular weight-loss and diabetes drugs like Ozempic.
Whenever a new drug dominates the market, he says, whether it's for cancer or cholesterol or erectile dysfunction, bad actors find ways to cash in.
"But this is, on scale, a hundred times bigger," said Wharton, an internal medicine specialist at Michael Garron Hospital in Toronto and assistant professor at the University of Toronto who researches obesity medicine, including studies paid for by the company that makes Ozempic. "None of those medications make you skinny."
BrandShield, an Israel-based cybersecurity company hired by a consortium of pharmaceutical companies, says it took down more than 250 websites selling fake versions of Ozempic and similar drugs in 2023.
Doctors and health-care law experts say this is part of the growing and dangerous problem of counterfeit drugs. It's an issue they say is likely to get worse — especially when it comes to this class of highly sought-after pharmaceuticals.
Ozempic and other drugs in its class are known as glucagon-like peptides, or GLP-1 medicines. They were initially developed to treat diabetes, but in recent years have become in high demand for weight-loss, generating huge buzz from celebrities like Oprah Winfrey. Their active ingredient, semaglutide, promotes insulin production and also stimulates part of the brain that controls appetite.
Many obesity specialists and endocrinologists have extolled these drugs as an effective treatment for what they say is a genetic, medical condition. But doctors have also urged caution, warning they come with potential side effects, need to be taken long-term to remain effective and shouldn't be seen as a quick-fix.
BrandShield said it had 1,600 fake online pharmacies taken down last year, 279 of which were selling counterfeit drugs intended to treat metabolic conditions. Of those, it said more than 90 per cent were hawking fake GLP-1 medicines.
"This is a growing problem worldwide in the past few years, especially since COVID, with an increasing number of fake pharmacies and counterfeited drugs being sold online, and impersonations on social media," BrandShield CEO Yoav Keren told As It Happens host Nil Köksal.
"This is a problem across industries, not only necessarily pharma. The big difference here is that when you buy a fake drug, it can kill you." | | | | | Scenes from Coachella | | |  | (Valeria Macon/AFP/Getty Images) | | | | Concertgoers are gathering again in the California desert for Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. The annual festival in Indio, Calif., is a six-day affair spread over two consecutive weekends. The same headliners, including Doja Cat, No Doubt and Tyler, the Creator will take the stage when weekend No. 2 gets underway today. In the photo above, American rapper Doja Cat, who had six outfit changes during her hour-long show, performs on April 14. Check out our photo gallery here. | | | | | | | | | In brief | | | Explosions echoed over an Iranian city in what sources described as an Israeli attack, but Tehran played down the incident, which closed airspace for a time on Friday. Iranian media and officials described a small number of explosions, which they said resulted from Iran's air defences hitting three drones over the city of Isfahan. They referred to the incident as an attack by "infiltrators," rather than by Israel, obviating the need for retaliation. Israel said nothing about the incident. It had said for days it was planning to retaliate against Iran for strikes on April 13, the first ever direct attack on Israel by Iran in decades of shadow war waged by proxies, which has escalated throughout the Middle East through six months of battle in Gaza. Read the full story here.
Alexander Vinogradsky's Facebook posts share puns, poke fun at Gen Z and show off a trip to Tokyo Disneyland last year. In others, he is smiling or highlighting damaged cars in need of a tow. But beneath the cheerful faces and overseas vacations, a constant menace lingered in Vinogradsky's life: as a kingpin in the Toronto area's tow truck underworld, he was a marked man. Before he was gunned down March 28 outside a north-end Toronto plaza, he owned Paramount Towing, one of four outfits allegedly locked in a deadly turf war that prompted a major police crackdown in 2019 and 2020. The investigation prompted dozens of arrests — Vinogradsky's included. And though he was never charged in any murder plots, investigators had information the tow truck boss ordered hits on at least two perceived rivals in late 2018, according to court decisions that have not previously been reported on. One of those men survived a drive-by shooting while the other, Soheil "Cadi" Rafipour, was shot dead that Christmas Eve. Read the full story here.
The bungled sale of a $2.89 million Richmond, B.C., home under a Chinese-language contract was the subject of a recent B.C. Supreme Court decision, with the court ruling the one-page handwritten document outlining the deal is legally binding. Justice Steven Wilson's Monday ruling brings an apparent end to a nearly seven-year legal tango between two acquaintances who first met in dance class — and then several more times in a courtroom. Wilson's decision found plaintiff and would-be seller Hong Yang and her husband were entitled to damages after buyer Xue Li failed to pay an $800,000 deposit instalment agreed upon in what the parties called a "Chinese contract." While another justice refused to decide the case on a summary basis in 2022, Monday's ruling finds that despite different translations, customs and interpretations, Chinese-language contracts are enforceable in B.C. — in this case, to the tune of nearly half a million dollars. Read the full story here.
The federal government's budget proposal to increase the inclusion rate for the capital gains tax for people whose profits go past a certain threshold has drawn mixed reactions from experts, entrepreneurs and taxpayers. One asset affected by these changes is real estate, including cottages and investment homes. The change proposed in the Trudeau government's new budget would raise the inclusion rate to 67 per cent on capital gains above $250,000 for individuals. So for the first $250,000 in capital gains, an individual taxpayer would continue to pay tax on 50 per cent of the asset's gain. For every dollar beyond $250,000, two-thirds would be taxable. So what does this mean for someone who inherits a home and considers selling it? Read the full story here.
The recruiting hole in which the Canadian military finds itself is deeper and potentially more serious than it might appear at first glance — in part because of all the new equipment the federal government has ordered, or plans to order in the near future. Just recently, Defence Minister Bill Blair estimated the military is short up to 16,500 members and said the Armed Forces' failure to boost recruitment is leading it into a "death spiral." But the country's top military commander, Gen. Wayne Eyre, told CBC News in a recent interview that the problem is actually bigger than the numbers cited by the minister suggest. The shortfall cited by Blair is the gap between the Armed Forces' current size and its authorized strength, he said — it doesn't reflect what the military needs to carry out the new defence policy, or the demands of modernizing continental defence under NORAD. To meet those demands, Eyre said, the Armed Forces needs to take on an additional 14,500 people on top of the 16,500 required to bring the military up to authorized strength. "Otherwise," he said, "we're going to have to strip those people from some other capability in the Armed Forces." Read the full story here.
Now here's some good news to start your Friday: When you think of retirement, you may picture leisurely days around the house or casual hobbies. But for one retiree from Milestone, Sask., retirement is a little busier thanks to his zest for baking. Read the story here and watch it here.
| | | Your weekly look at what’s happening in the worlds of economics, business and finance. Senior business correspondent Peter Armstrong untangles what it means for you, in your inbox Monday mornings. Click here to subscribe to the newsletter. | | |  | Is high finance killing Hollywood? | | Enormous media conglomerates have been buying up Hollywood. Is creativity paying the price? Listen to today's episode. | | | Tired of after-hours emails and phone calls?
One of the promises in this past week's federal budget was around the so-called "right to disconnect."
The government is putting money towards updating the federal labour code. Employers in federally regulated sectors would be required to come up with a plan to limit workplace communication after working hours.
Should you have a "right to disconnect" from work? Do you feel like you have a healthy work-life balance?
Join Ian Hanomansing on CBC Radio One, CBC Listen and CBC News Network. Call Checkup at 1-888-416-8333, send an email text (226-758-8924) or go to CBC.ca/AIRCHECK. | | | Today in history: April 19 | | | 1877: Ole Evinrude, the Norwegian-American who developed the first commercially successful outboard boat motor, is born in Gjøvik, Norway.
1904: Fire rages through downtown Toronto, causing more than $10 million in damage and destroying approximately 100 buildings.
1907: Tom Longboat, from the Six Nations Reserve, near Brantford, Ont., becomes the first Canadian to win the Boston Marathon.
1995: 168 people die and hundreds are injured in the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah federal building in Oklahoma City, Okla. | | | (With files from CBC News, The Canadian Press, The Associated Press and Reuters) | | | | |  | CBC NEWS APP | The most convenient way to get your news
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