April 15 (Reuters) - The cybersecurity firm BrandShield

has taken down more than 250 websites selling fake versions of

popular weight-loss and diabetes drugs in the GLP-1 class, the

company's CEO Yoav Keren told Reuters.

BrandShield, which shared this information exclusively with

Reuters, said that out of the 279 pharmacy websites the company

closed last year for selling drugs intended to treat metabolic

conditions, more than 90% were related to GLP-1 medicines,

according to Keren.

Novo Nordisk's Ozempic and Wegovy and Eli Lilly's ( LLY )

Mounjaro and Zepbound are GLP-1 drugs, which were

developed for type 2 diabetes but also reduce food cravings and

cause the stomach to empty more slowly.

The drugs have been shown to help patients lose on average

as much as 20% of their weight, fueling explosive demand and a

burgeoning global market for fake versions.

Cases of harm linked to fake versions of Ozempic and other

GLP-1s have been reported in at least nine countries, including

Belgium, Britain, Switzerland and the United States.

"I wouldn't be surprised to see criminals try to use the

growing popularity of these drugs to sell more counterfeits,"

said Keren.

Websites taken down for selling bogus GLP-1s represented

just over 15% of the 1,655 websites BrandShield reported last

year for peddling counterfeit drugs in areas, including

hormone-related drugs, central nervous system medicines and

cancer treatments.

Websites selling counterfeit GLP-1s were less common in 2022

when the company identified 34 such sites to be closed, although

it was not targeting all of the GLP-1 drugs that year as it did

in 2023, said Keren.

He said his firm last year did not find the same

concentration of a particular class of drug in any treatment

category as it did for GLP-1s as metabolic treatments.

BrandShield worked with the Pharmaceutical Security

Institute (PSI), an industry-backed organization, to take down

these websites. PSI's members, which include Lilly and Novo,

chose which drugs to target, according to Keren.

The CEO said his company gets these websites taken down by

collecting evidence that their products are counterfeit and

submitting that to the service providers hosting the site.

When permitted or requested by its drugmaker customers,

BrandShield will share that intelligence with law enforcement

agencies. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration said in December

it was investigating counterfeit Ozempic in the legitimate U.S.

supply chain.

BrandShield also took down 3,968 listings on social media

platforms for fake drugs in all categories last year, almost 60%

of which were found on Facebook, according to a new report from

the company.

The company removed more than 6,900 illegal drug listings

across social media platforms and marketplaces in total,

including 992 marketplaces in India, 544 in Indonesia, 364 in

China and 114 in Brazil.

Keren said the company did not have data on how many of

these social media listings and marketplaces were selling fake

versions of GLP-1s.