Unequal access to weight-loss jabs raising counterfeit concerns

The UK Health Secretary has called for wider access to weight-loss injections, saying that access should not be determined by wealth, but there are real fears that the present situation is exposing people to counterfeit and potentially hazardous products.

Wes Streeting criticised the current situation in which an estimated 1.5m people in the UK are using products like Novo Nordisk's Wegovy (semaglutide) and Eli Lilly's Mounjaro (tirzepatide), with 90 per cent of the paying hundreds of pounds per month for the jabs out of their own pockets.

That situation has only been exacerbated by Lilly's recent decision to raise the for-cash price of Mounjaro by 170 per cent in the UK, under pressure from US President Donald Trump who is pushing for prices in the US to be aligned with those in other developed countries.

"The wealthy talk about how they’ve transformed their health, their confidence, their quality of life. But what about the millions who can’t afford them?" said Streeting. "That is a return to the days when health was determined by wealth. When some had access to the best care money can buy, while others waited and suffered. And I say: never again."

There's a separate, but related concern about people unable to afford the sought-after products looking to get them from unreliable sources, raising their risk of being exposed to counterfeits and otherwise illegal versions.

After the Mounjaro price rise, there was a spike in Google searches for "cheaper Mounjaro," while cybersecurity firm Avast uncovered a network of 5,000 rogue online pharmacy sites selling cheap semaglutide for as little as £13.70 per dose, while the lowest strength of Novo Nordisk's brand typically costs around between £100 and £200 for a four-week supply.

The UK medicines regulator, the MHRA, has also received reports of counterfeit pre-filled pens that closely mimic the appearance of the licensed products.

"These may look genuine, but can also be dangerous. Not only does buying from unregulated sellers expose people wanting to lose weight to serious health risks – it is also against the law to sell these medicines in this way."

Last month, City of London Police launched an appeal to trace a woman wanted in connection with the illegal selling of counterfeit weight loss medicines, Christina Parfitt, after seizing tens of thousands of pounds in illegal products during an investigation.

Changing patterns

Meanwhile, UK telehealth company Numan reported recently that it had come across a Chinese website offering access to retatrutide, a Lilly weight-loss drug that has not yet even reached the market and remains experimental.

"In terms of illicit access, I think we really underestimate the problem and misunderstand it," said the company's chief executive, Sokratis Papafloratos, at a meeting of the London Assembly’s health committee last month.

He said it is "mind-blowing" that people are finding suppliers of active ingredients intended for research purposes, buying supplies of the drugs, and either injecting them into their bodies.

"Counterfeit medication has always been a problem, illegal, online providers continue to be a problem, but now we are starting to see a different…level of sophistication both from the people that provide these products when they shouldn’t and also an audience that is searching for [them], which wouldn't have been the case even five years ago."

Aside from the risks of infections and other complications from illegal versions of the injectable drug, counterfeit medicines claiming to be semaglutide have been found to contain insulin, with life-threatening consequences for users. Others have been found to have the wrong dose of the active ingredient.

NHS is 'wasting money rejecting the drugs'

Another legitimate provider of the injections – telehealth company CheqUp – has called for much wider access than at present via the health service, estimating that the NHS is spending more money rejecting patients seeking weight loss medication than it is on providing the drugs themselves.

The calculated wastage, based on a conservative £39 cost estimate for each 10-minute appointment that ends in rejection, is costing the NHS approximately £786m a year – enough to fund its current £317m annual jabs budget twice over.

"After the price rise in Mounjaro in September, it is hardly surprising to see GPs reporting an increase in requests, even if those patients stand little chance of getting them through the NHS as it stands," said chief executive Toby Nicol.