Over two million doses of illegal medicines worth more than £4m have been seized in an “intensive” international operation, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has revealed.
The regulator said today that the 14-day enforcement operation carried out in the UK was part of Operation Pangea XVIII, the “world’s largest coordinated initiative aimed at tackling the illegal medicines trade”.
It took place between March 10 and 23 and was the result of collaboration between the MHRA, UK Border Force and “partners around the world”.
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More than half of the medicines intercepted were controlled drugs, the MHRA said, with the rest “classified as prescription-only medicines in the UK”.
Alongside these UK border seizures, the regulator’s Criminal Enforcement Unit also “took action to disrupt online supply routes” by “targeting a wide network of websites, social media accounts and posts, as well as listings on online marketplaces”.
It added that the most commonly seized products this year were “associated with sedation, pain relief and treatments for erectile dysfunction”.
Exploiting demand
MHRA Criminal Enforcement Unit head Andy Morling said the scale of seizures in the operation “underlines the persistent demand for medicines outside the regulated supply chain”.
“Organised criminal groups are exploiting that demand and putting people’s health at serious risk,” he added.
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Illegal hair loss meds
Meanwhile, new data has revealed that more than 65,000 doses of illegal hair loss medicines have been seized by the MHRA in the last five years.
A Freedom of Information request made to the MHRA by aesthetic equipment company Vip Italia in March found that between 2021 and early 2026, the regulator confiscated 65,194 individual doses of illegally traded treatments for hair loss.
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These included the drugs eflornithine, finasteride and minoxidil, the MHRA said.
The data also showed that in 2025 alone, 27,091 doses were seized by the regulator – the highest figure of any year in the period.
The second-highest number was seen in 2021, when 20,736 doses were seized.
“GLP-1 moment”
Vip Italia chief marketing officer Anastasia Lesnikova warned that “we could be looking at a ‘GLP-1 moment’ for hair loss treatments”.
She said that as these medicines “become easier to access”, there is a risk of “shifting from medically supervised treatments to mass-market ‘lifestyle drugs’”.
“When treatments are reduced to a quick online questionnaire or a social media ad, it opens the door for sellers to target people’s insecurities,” she added.
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It comes after seven men were convicted following an MHRA investigation that uncovered a “large-scale criminal network” dealing in illegal steroids and prescription-only medicines.
The regulator said officers “seized more than 130,000 doses of steroids and unauthorised medicines” being “sold by mail order” from a flat in Bolton.
