A record 28.5m doses of illegal medicines with an estimated street value of £64.4m were seized by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) in the last year, it has revealed.
In its annual report for 2025/26, published on July 15, the regulator said these comprised of directly seized medicines “as well as doses seized by UK Border Force and law enforcement partners on behalf of the MHRA”.
Read more: MHRA seized £45m in illegally traded drugs in 2025
The MHRA said that between last April and this March, it conducted 1,706 “threat reduction interventions” relating to illegally traded medicines, compared to 1,091 the year before.
Its actions denied offenders £2.5m in criminal profits over the same period, and resulted in a combined 144 months of custodial sentences issued to offenders.
It added that it had 295 “illegally trading website domains” taken down, 113 social media accounts – totalling 4,175 posts - removed and 396 online marketplace listings deleted.
“Strongest year to date”
The MHRA noted that its Criminal Enforcement Unit “delivered its strongest year of operational activity to date, disrupting organised criminal networks and removing large volumes of illegally traded medicines from circulation”.
“Through enhanced enforcement, large-scale safety monitoring and targeted regulatory action, the Safety and Surveillance Group has reduced the circulation of unsafe medicines, disrupted criminal activity and strengthened our ability to identify and respond to emerging safety risks, protecting patients and maintaining public confidence,” it added.
Read more: Two arrested in MHRA’s ‘largest ever’ illegal weight loss drugs bust
It comes after two people were arrested last month in the MHRA’s “largest ever” illegal weight loss drugs bust.
And it follows the success of the regulator’s AI eBay algorithm, which C+D exclusively revealed had blocked the sale of almost two million unregulated medicines in 2024.
The MHRA also revealed in January that it had seized £45m in illegally traded drugs in 2025.
