The short version
- Do these five checks before the first injection, not after.
- A pen that doses in insulin units is not semaglutide or tirzepatide.
- A box that arrives warm means the medicine may be ruined even if it is genuine.
- If anything fails, stop. A wasted pen is cheaper than a hospital admission.
Social media is where the cheapest GLP-1 prices in Nigeria live, and also where the least accountability does. An account can vanish overnight, and often does. If you have already bought, here is the ten-minute inspection to run before you use it.
Check 1: does the pen dose in milligrams?
Semaglutide and tirzepatide pens dose in milligrams. If the dose window shows insulin units, or the scale runs 0 to 80 and extends as you dial, you may be holding a relabelled insulin pen. NAFDAC warned about exactly this in 2023, when falsified Ozempic in Nigeria turned out to contain fast-acting insulin.
Injecting insulin you do not need can cause severe hypoglycaemia. This is the one check to do before any other.
Check 2: do the carton and the pen agree?
The strength, the batch or lot number and the expiry date must match exactly between the carton and the pen label. A label that is crooked, bubbled or printed over another label means stop.
Check 3: was it cold when it reached you?
Ask how it was stored and transported. If it arrived in an ordinary bag, or the box was warm, assume heat damage. Above roughly 30°C these medicines degrade, and a degraded pen looks perfect and simply does nothing.
In Lagos or Abuja traffic, an unrefrigerated delivery of two or three hours is enough to matter.
Check 4: is the liquid right?
Clear and colourless is correct. Cloudy, discoloured, or containing particles is not. A pen that has been frozen is finished even if it looks normal after thawing, and the manufacturers' leaflets say so explicitly.
Check 5: who is accountable if this is wrong?
Do you have a name, a number that is answered after payment, and an account name that matches a real business? If the answer is an anonymous handle and a personal account, you have no recourse, and that is worth knowing before you inject rather than after.
If it fails any check
- Do not inject it.
- Keep everything, including the carton and leaflet.
- Photograph the batch number and the pen.
- Message the seller and tell them what you found.
- Report it to NAFDAC on 0800-162-3322 or sf.alert@nafdac.gov.ng.
If you already injected it
Watch for symptoms of low blood sugar: shaking, sweating, palpitations, hunger, confusion. Take sugar immediately if they appear and get medical help. Also watch the injection site for spreading redness, swelling or pain, which can indicate infection from a non-sterile product.
Take the pen and packaging with you to the hospital. It tells the doctor what they are dealing with.
Not Sure What You Bought?
Send us photographs of the carton and pen label. We will tell you what we can see, free, with no obligation to buy anything.
PCN-licensed pharmacy · UK-sourced from authorised distributors · Every order reviewed by a registered pharmacist
Message Us on WhatsApp