Crime gangs in UK making weight-loss drugs with ‘sophisticated’ fake branding | Health
Organized crime gangs have begun manufacturing their own weight-loss drugs, designed to look like legitimate drugs, which authorities view as a significant threat.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said the trend had only just emerged, leading it to make the largest seizure of adulterated weight loss drugs ever recorded by a global law enforcement agency.
Andy Morling, head of the MHRA’s crime unit, said that in recent months there had been a new model of production, “where criminals invest in designing their own packaging and branding… and sell it pretending to be a genuine product”.
He added: “It’s an unusual model. [What they seized] looked like real drugs, but their sale was completely unlicensed and illegal in the UK. The newest model and level of investment to realize packaging and production facilities for sale on an industrial scale – this is undoubtedly organized crime. That’s why we’re working to eliminate this pattern before it takes over. »
Morling said such a sophisticated product…is a significant concern” for his unit.
Last month the MHRA carried out its first raid on an illegal weight loss drug factory in Northampton. It seized tens of thousands of empty weight loss pens ready for refilling, raw chemical ingredients and more than 2,000 unlicensed retatrutide and tirzepatide pens that were to be sent to customers.
Morling said he had a “significant number” of criminal investigations on his “books” but “did not treat them all as prosecutions.” He said: “We are taking an approach proportionate to the threat posed… The priority in all cases is public safety by removing products from the market. »
The MHRA said the new production model “gives customers a false sense of security in thinking they are buying a genuine product”. The regulator is currently analyzing the products seized in Northampton, but said it would be “wrong to speculate” about their contents.
Morling said there was “a blurring between what is considered a drug and another cosmetic treatment available today.” He said most customers thought what they were buying in the syringes was a cosmetic treatment.
Morling added: “Some beauty salons are selling them in this context without realizing that they are selling drugs that could end up giving them a prison sentence… Both on the part of the customer and the seller, there is a lack of awareness. »
The MHRA said people saw products being marketed on social media and also discovered them through word of mouth and by visiting local beauty salons.
Morling said there have been several iterations in how the treatments were produced, starting with counterfeit versions of the Mounjaro and Wegovy brands in spring 2023.
“These were actually insulin pens with the insulin labels removed… The second model we saw in early 2024 was the raw active ingredients, either as a powder to mix and inject into a syringe at home, or as generic pre-filled syringes,” he said.
“The fact that we now have a third model [of production] …almost trying to compete with genuine branded products – this is new… It’s brand new and it’s something we need to look at – we’ve never seen this level of investment and sophistication before… This is global organized crime.
He added: “They looked like real drugs, but they are completely unlicensed and illegal to sell in the UK. »
