The short version
- A counterfeit usually leaves traces on the pack or the pen. Heat damage leaves none.
- Counterfeits can be dangerous. Heat-damaged genuine medicine is usually just useless.
- Report a suspected counterfeit to NAFDAC. Take a heat-damaged pen up with your supplier.
- When in doubt, do not inject.
Someone finishes a ₦700,000 pen and nothing happens. No appetite change, no nausea, no weight movement. There are two very different explanations, and telling them apart changes what you do next.
What a counterfeit looks like
- Print, spelling or alignment errors on the carton.
- A label that is crooked, bubbled, peeling, or printed over another label.
- Batch number or expiry that does not match between carton and pen.
- A dose display in insulin units rather than milligrams.
- A pen that does not behave the way the leaflet describes.
- A price far below everything else in the market.
What heat damage looks like
Nothing. That is the entire problem. A pen that spent a day above 30°C looks identical to one kept properly. Clear liquid, intact seal, correct label, genuine carton. The only evidence is circumstantial, and it is worth reconstructing honestly.
| Question | What a worrying answer sounds like |
|---|---|
| How did it get to you? | Ordinary courier bag, no cold box |
| Was the box still cold on arrival? | Room temperature, or no cold packing at all |
| How long was it in transit? | Hours in traffic, or a road trip between cities |
| Where has it lived since? | Fridge door, or through long power cuts |
| Did it ever freeze? | Back wall of the fridge, or against a frozen block |
Freezing counts as damage too. The leaflets are explicit that a pen which has been frozen must not be used, even if it looks normal once thawed.
Why the response differs
A counterfeit is a public safety matter. The falsified pens NAFDAC warned about in 2023 contained fast-acting insulin, which can cause dangerous hypoglycaemia. Reporting it protects other people, and it is the only way the agency sees a pattern.
Heat-damaged genuine medicine is a commercial matter between you and whoever sold or delivered it. It is not dangerous in the way a fake can be. It is simply money burned.
What to do, in order
- Stop using the pen and keep it, with the carton and leaflet.
- Photograph everything, especially the batch number and expiry.
- Write down the delivery and storage history while you still remember it.
- Contact the seller and say exactly what you observed.
- If you suspect a counterfeit, report it to NAFDAC on 0800-162-3322 or sf.alert@nafdac.gov.ng.
- If you feel unwell, see a doctor and take the pen with you.
The prevention, since both are avoidable
Ask for the batch number and expiry before you pay. Insist on an insulated box with an ice pack, and check it is cold at the door. Refrigerate immediately, middle shelf, never the door and never the freezer. And be suspicious of any price that makes no commercial sense, because a genuine pen has a floor cost that nobody sells below out of generosity.
Get a Straight Answer
Tell us how your pen travelled and send photographs of the pack. We will tell you which problem you are looking at.
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