Approximately £2m worth of fake weight loss medicines have been seized by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) and West Midlands police, the regulator announced today.
The MHRA said the raid at an industrial unit in Birmingham last night recovered over 12,000 counterfeit retatrutide and tirzepatide pens, as well as packaging for around 30,000 more products.
Read more: ‘Serious public health risk’: Three jailed over £1m Mounjaro theft
It added that the raid is one of a series of MHRA operations that have “removed tens of thousands of doses of unauthorised GLP-1 medicines from circulation”.
In May, the regulator seized around 12,000 doses of unauthorised medicines in a raid on a country estate that resulted in the arrest of two people.
Another raid last October saw the MHRA dismantle “the first illicit weight-loss medicine production facility discovered in the UK”.
“Organised criminal gangs”
Head of intelligence at the MHRA’s Criminal Enforcement Unit Tim Duffield said the body is “tackling the organised criminal gangs” trading in unauthorised medicines.
He said yesterday’s raid took place in a “filthy warehouse” and that the products seized “have not been assessed for safety, quality or effectiveness, and there is no guarantee of what they contain or whether they have been contaminated with harmful substances”.
“Retatrutide has not been authorised for use in the UK. Products being sold as retatrutide outside legitimate clinical trials are being supplied illegally and could pose serious risks to public health,” he added.
Read more: Gym owner charged for illegal possession of GLP-1s
“We urge people to avoid buying weight-loss medicines from unregulated sources. Anyone considering GLP-1 treatment should speak to a healthcare professional and only obtain medicines from a registered pharmacy against a valid prescription.”
It comes after three men were jailed for more than five years in July after stealing 79 boxes of weight loss drugs from a St Albans pharmaceutical site.
And it follows a gym owner being charged for the illegal possession of GLP-1s after weight loss drugs were found on the premises of his business in Norther Ireland.
