Pharmacists want action on fake weight-loss jabs

Pharmacies have said more needs to be done to tackle the "sophisticated criminal enterprise" of counterfeit weight-loss jabs.

It comes after Northamptonshire Police carried out what was believed to be the first operation to complete a raid on an illicit production facility for weight-loss medicine.

The discovery in Northampton led to the largest single seizure of trafficked weight-loss drugs ever recorded by a law enforcement agency worldwide - worth about £250,000.

Sehar Shahid, board member at the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) said: "I know first hand how distressing it is to see criminals posing as regulated pharmacists to try and trick patients into buying counterfeit medicines."

Shahid added: "Medicines from unregulated providers may be faked, swapped for an alternative medicine or not meet the strict regulatory standards we have in the UK.

"Patients should be wary of any provider that is offering medicines at a price that is too good to be true and are not offering any consultations before prescribing."

A survey found that about one in 10 online pharmacies have had their websites and social media accounts cloned by platforms selling counterfeit weight-loss jabs.

One pharmacy only discovered their online presence had been cloned after being approached by a patient who had bought counterfeit Mounjaro from a site posing as their pharmacy.

The drug was being offered for a quarter of the price.

It led to the NPA urging patients to be "wary" of providers offering medication at a price that is "too good to be true", and accused social media companies of being "asleep at the wheel".

The organisation, which represents 6,000 pharmacies across Britain, has also written to the Health Secretary Wes Streeting, calling for stronger safeguards for patients.

Among pharmacies who reported these instances to social media companies, almost all (96%) said they felt the response was insufficient.

The NPA has suggested the government should consider allowing pharmacies to use a specific domain name, such as pharmacy.uk, to help patients identify regulated providers.

Ms Shahid added: "We need tougher enforcement action and the government should put stronger safeguards in place to help patients clearly identify regulated providers online."

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