Organized crime gangs have begun producing their own branded weight-loss drugs that look like legitimate drugs, which authorities warn poses a serious threat.
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said the trend had just emerged, resulting in the largest single seizure of weight loss drugs ever recorded by any global law enforcement agency.
Andy Morling, the MHRA's head of crime, said a new production model had emerged in recent months, “where criminals invest in developing their own packaging and branding… and sell it as the real product.”
He added: “This is an unusual model. [What they seized] looked like real medicine, but their sale in the UK is unlicensed and illegal. The latest model and level of investment in creating packaging and manufacturing facilities for commercial distribution is clearly organized crime. That’s why we’re working to eliminate this pattern before it takes over.”
Morling said a product “that complex… is a major concern” for his division.
Last month the MHRA held first raid on an illegal factory producing weight loss drugs in Northampton. It seized tens of thousands of empty weight loss pens ready to be filled, raw chemical ingredients and more than 2,000 unlicensed retatrutide and tirzepatide pens that were to be shipped to customers.
Morling said he has a “significant number” of criminal investigations on his books, but “don't look at them all as prosecutions.” He said: “We take a proportionate approach to the threat posed… The priority in every case is public safety by removing products from the market.”
The MHRA said the new production model “gives customers a false sense of security into thinking they are buying a real product”. The regulatory body is conducting an analysis of products seized in Northampton but said it would be “wrong to speculate” about what was in them.
Morling said that “the lines are blurring between what is considered a cure and other cosmetic procedures available today.” He said most customers think what they buy in syringes is a cosmetic product.
Morling added: “Some beauty salons are selling them in these conditions without realizing that they are selling drugs that could ultimately land them in jail… There is a lack of awareness on both the buyer and seller side.”
The MHRA said people had seen the products being sold on social media, as well as heard about them through word of mouth and visited local beauty salons.
Morling said there were various options for producing the drugs, starting with counterfeit versions of the Mounjaro and Wegovy brands in the spring of 2023.
“They were actually insulin pens that had the insulin labels removed… The second model we saw in early 2024 was the raw active ingredients, either in powder form for mixing and syringing at home, or as pre-filled generic syringes,” he said.
“The fact that we now have a third model [of production] …almost trying to compete with a genuine branded product – it's new… It's a freshly released box and we need to pay attention to that – we haven't seen this level of investment and sophistication before… This is global organized crime.”
He added: “They looked like real medicine but selling them in the UK is completely unlicensed and illegal.”
