One in five UK adults have bought prescription-only medicines (POMs) illegally, including those for weight loss, research by Oxford Online Pharmacy has revealed.
The survey of 2,000 Brits, conducted in November, asked individuals whether they had ever bought, received or been offered medication from an unlicensed source.
Of those who said yes, 28% admitted to obtaining weight loss drugs such as Mounjaro, Wegovy and Saxenda.
Read more: Regulators issue warning on ads for unlicensed weight loss drugs
The research found that 44% of those aged 25 to 34 had obtained POMs illegally, while more than a third of 18- to 24-year-olds who had illegally sourced medication had done so for weight loss drugs.
Online sellers, including unlicensed online pharmacies, were the most common source of illegal POMs (27%), followed by family members (26%) and hair and beauty salons (20%).
The survey also revealed that 15% of those who bought POMs illegally had sourced them from a local corner shop.
Read more: Cross-sector roundtable calls for action on fake online pharmacies
It comes after the oral version of Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy jab became available in the UK this week, with National Pharmacy Association chair Olivier Picard warning that tablet forms of medicines are “likely to be easier for criminals to counterfeit”.
And it follows a cross-sector roundtable convened by the General Pharmaceutical Council calling for “coordinated action” to address the “growing threat of fake online pharmacies and unregulated medicines”.