Some 215 listings of “potentially dangerous, unauthorised” erectile dysfunction (ED) medicines have been removed from eBay as part of the Medicine and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA) collaboration with the online marketplace, the regulator has revealed.
The MHRA said today that the shape of the tablets listed on the platform “indicated that they were not genuine medicines”, and this was confirmed by its borderline products team to be the case.
It then “alerted eBay”, it added, and the company “immediately took action by removing the listings” from its website.
Read more: Do not ‘risk health’ by buying illegal meds online, urges MHRA
The regulator said ED medicines “remain one of the most frequently illegally traded medicines in the UK” - and that because the drugs are unauthorised, it “has no oversight and their contents are unknown”.
It added that arrangements in place between eBay and MHRA “enable non-compliant medicines and medical devices to be withdrawn from the platform quickly”, helping to “protect the health and safety of the UK public”.
Don’t “gamble” with your health
MHRA head of borderline Lynda Scammell stressed that patient safety is the medicine regulator’s “number one priority”, and urged the public not to “gamble” with their health.
The MHRA’s work with eBay “continues to remove unauthorised products from sale and prevent potential harm to public health”, Scammell said.
“Collaborations such as this between public agencies and private companies have a substantial role to play in tackling illegal sales of medical products and protecting the health and safety of UK citizens,” she added.
Read more: MHRA seized £45m in illegally traded drugs in 2025
Health minister Zubir Ahmed highlighted that this is “a great example of how government and internet-based businesses can work together to disrupt websites and social media accounts illegally selling these medicines”.
“Buying any medicine from illegal online suppliers significantly increases the risk of receiving falsified or unlicensed products, often with drastic consequences,” he said.
And he added that doing so often “provides funding for other illegal activity”.
Read more: MHRA busts ‘large-scale’ illegal online Class B drug supply
It comes after C+D exclusively revealed in last year that eBay worked closely with the MHRA to block almost two million unregulated medicine “violations” in 2024 before they were sold to the public.
MHRA deputy director of criminal enforcement Andy Morling said at the time that “prevention is the name of the game”, noting that the regulator’s work with eBay is “indicative of the sort of collaboration we want to have with tech companies”.
