Influx of fake products

[idrinkandiknowthings]

Anyone see this report on Good Morning Britain about the influx of fake injections, some just containing insulin. Recommendations that they're only obtained via prescription, which obviously isn't available to most.
The products look genuine to the untrained eye. Worrying!

This isn’t anything new. They’ve been around for ages and are the cause of most of the reports of a&e visits etc!

Of course GLP1s should only be obtained by prescription. I am not sure why you think prescriptions are not available to most? The only barriers are going to be cost and medical contraindications.

Anyone getting the injections legitimately is getting it via prescriptions. Just because people are going via online pharmacies rather than their GP doesn’t mean it isn’t prescribed.

Just make sure you purchase from a reputable source. If you want, ask them for the batch number

As others have said, if you buy from an online pharmacy it's still prescribed. They are a prescription only medication. The online pharmacies either have a pescribing pharmacist or a GP that does the prescribing. What is very hard to do is get them on NHS prescription.

Prescriptions are available to most. They're just private prescriptions rather than NHS ones. If you purchase from a GPhC registered pharmacy then the medication will be genuine. This seems like an alarmist story to catch viewers.

Wegovy and Mounjaro are prescription-only medication, so it's not a recommendation that they be acquired via a prescription, it's the law.

What makes you think that prescriptions aren’t available to people who meet the criteria for these medications? Threads are full of people doing exactly that. From a GPhC registered pharmacy. They aren’t freely available for weight loss on the NHS, that’s true. Anyone buying heavens know what, on Facebook/insta or from the hair, beauty, nail technician is bonkers.

I would imagine that if people aren’t buying it legitimately and from a registered pharmacy then yes, they will be injecting themselves with god knows what.

Anyone buying it legitimately and from a registered pharmacy whilst telling the truth about their stats and medical history doesn’t need to worry.

I've had a quick watch of the piece, and I wish they had been clearer about when this had happened and with which medications. The issue with Ozempic and Saxenda pens was in 2023, this is the statement from Novo Nordisk

https://www.novonordisk.co.uk/about/counterfeit-product-warning.html

All of the fakes were obtained by non-legitimate sources. There was a separate issue where two UK medicine wholesalers were supplied with batches of fake Ozempic from Austria/Germany, in the official boxes but counterfeit pens. The batches were identified as fakes and none were actually supplied to any UK pharmacies or patients.

(https://www.gov.uk/government/news/falsified-ozempic-semaglutide-pens-identified-at-two-wholesalers-in-the-uk)

As far as I can tell, there has not been any issue with Mounjaro in the UK, as in no fake/counterfeit pens have been identified or seized that were supplied via a legitimate source.

As a side point, I don't know what you can really do about people who don't have the capacity to understand what prescription-only medication is and how to legitimately obtain it. If you are not worried about buying an injectable medication from a beautician on Facebook or whatever, then I'm not sure that any educational content about this will really sink in.

As others say, make sure you get privately prescribed from a registered pharmacy and there is no risk of fakes. Reports on GMB perhaps help to spread that message and the risks to some of buying from the wrong places. It is not something I worry about for myself.

Others need to have some personal accountability for where they get medication from, whether that is someone buying "diazepam" from Fred in the pub who is really reliable, or a "WLI" from Susan the hairdresser whose friends, mums, cat sitter had great results with, it is much the same.

Some good sleuthing there @SilenceInside! 🔍

What do you mean? They are only available on prescription. What do you think the pharmacy that sends them out does? They prescribe them. If you buy on the black market then you will get fake shit but you won’t if you get them properly prescribed.

Ah right, yes, I jumped to the conclusion that it was prescription by GP.

I'll crawl away now.... 😂

Even if you get something prescribed by your GP you still have to go to the pharmacy to get it - it’s not like the doctor has the medication there in their office. So instead you go to boots, Asda, Superdrug to pick up your meds, y’know the ones who also sell and prescribe Mounjaro…

Someone around here is selling vials of what they claim to be Mounjaro out of a rented storage unit round the back of the local high street.

I'm sick of that shit being muddled up with legitimate, prescribed medication for the purpose of media headlines.

@SilenceInside excellent research as always!!