A massive UK raid produced the single largest seizure of unlicensed weight loss drugs across the globe, authorities announced.
Thousands of knockoff pens were confiscated by enforcement agents for the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, or the MHRA.
The agency “dismantled a major illicit manufacturing facility, making and distributing unlicensed weight-loss jabs, during a raid on a warehouse in Northampton,” reads a Friday press statement on the raid.
Agents spent two days searching the building, and “seized tens of thousands of empty weight loss pens ready to be filled, raw chemical ingredients, and more than 2,000 unlicensed retatrutide and tirzepatide pens awaiting dispatch to customers,” the statement explained.
Tirzepatide is sold as Zepbound in the US, and retatrutide is a GLP-1 that is still in clinical development and banned in the UK.
The seized products have a street value of over $330,000.
“Along with large amounts of sophisticated packaging and manufacturing equipment, officers recovered approximately £20,000 ($26,616) in cash suspected to be linked to medicines trafficking,” the statement added.
“This is a victory in the fight against the shameless criminals who are putting lives at risk by peddling dangerous and illegal weight loss jabs to make a quick buck,” said Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, Wes Streeting. “These unregulated products, made with no regard for safety or quality, posed a major risk to unwitting customers.
“My message is clear: don’t buy weight loss medications from unregulated sources … . and don’t line the pockets of criminals who don’t care about your health.”
This is the first illicit production facility for weight loss drugs discovered in the UK, according to officials.
