Britons who buy weight loss pills such as Ozympic online could suffer seizures and comas at the hands of fake drugs made with rat poison or cement sold by ‘fake’ online pharmacies, experts have warned.
Jabs, administered weekly, are designed to help type 2. Diabetes Patients control their blood sugar levels or for people who are overweight Weight loss For health purposes.
However, internet retailers are posing as pharmacies and targeting vulnerable patients with shortages of medicines and selling contaminated blockbuster injections, the Royal Pharmaceutical Society (RPS) has warned.
The authorities say that they are also aware of fake versions of Ozympic ADHD Drugs, and HRT, are being sold online, and there is ‘no way of knowing what’s in them’.
Also today, experts told MailOnline that health risks from taking bogus weight-loss boats include heart palpitations, confusion and hypoglycaemic shock – when blood sugar levels drop dangerously low.
Others have warned that patients have suffered seizures and been left in a life-threatening coma.
British drug control today Fraudulent supply of these drugs was the work of ‘organized crime gangs’.
In its report on the UK’s drug shortage, the RPS said it had heard reports of ‘an increasing number of websites that appear to be publicized by reputable pharmacies that offer medicines’.
Jabs, administered weekly, is designed to help people with type 2 diabetes manage blood sugar or lose weight for health reasons.
These are, however, ‘unregistered with the General Pharmaceutical Council (GPHC)’ – the pharmacy regulator, meaning they are often run by people with no medical training.
Without GPhC registration, a business cannot legally dispense medicine to patients.
He added: “These unregulated websites specifically target drugs that are in short supply.
“These illegal sites are associated with the risk that patients may receive unauthorized and/or falsified drugs that are outside of a tightly controlled supply chain.”
Rose Gittins, chief pharmacy officer at GPHC, told MailOnline: “It’s vital that people don’t use unregulated, illegal websites to get medicines.
There is no way to know exactly what is in them – the drugs may be fake or not suitable for them and may cause serious harm.
We encourage people to check whether a particular pharmacy is registered at pharmacyregulation.org before using it.
We are committed to being part of ongoing discussions on what we can all do to address the significant impact of drug shortages.
Health officials As of early 2023, they have seized more than 600 potentially counterfeit Ozempic pens in the UK.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) should be contacted if there are concerns about inappropriate advertising and fake websites.’
Reports of fake slimming jabs in the UK It appeared first In August 2023.
UK health authorities He said that since the beginning of 2023, more than 600 fake Olympic pens have been seized across the country.
Britons are being hospitalized with life-threatening side effects after injecting themselves with fake jabs sold online, the medicines watchdog MHRA has warned.
Also, many say they don’t even contain semaglutide – the active ingredient that suppresses hunger – and are often repackaged insulin pens to look like the real thing. They cheat customers.
When patients inject themselves, this increase in insulin causes blood sugar levels to drop rapidly – which can be fatal.
Torrun Govind, TV pharmacist and former chairman of the Royal Pharmaceutical Society, said: “Counterfeit medicines can contain the wrong amount of the active ingredient, too little, too much or none at all.
Some were found to contain rat poison, cement, mercury and arsenic.
Last year, Michelle Seif, 45, told how she collapsed after taking a weight-loss pill she bought online with her two children, Caddy (right), 13, and Coen (left), 18.
The doctors who saved Mrs. Seifu’s life called her recovery a bit of a miracle. He is seen being treated by doctors after taking a fake jab
‘These weight loss injections may not contain semaglutide at all or may contain drugs such as insulin.’
Dr Leila Hanbeck, chief executive of the Association of Independent Pharmacies, told May Online: “Drug shortages mean fraudsters and bogus online websites are targeting patients who desperately need their medicines.
Serious side effects of these fake drugs include hypoglycemic shock and coma. The regulator should crack down on these fake online sites in a strong manner.’
The British have They themselves said how. After buying what they believed to be Ozempic online, they ended up urinating blood.
Andy Morling, Deputy Director of Crime Enforcement at the MHRA, said: “We work tirelessly with partners to tackle those who sell drugs illegally and cause harm.
We target all levels of these organized crime groups, and as their tactics evolve, we develop our methods of identifying, disrupting and dismantling them.
“Patients’ safety is our number one priority, and we will continue to work with our law enforcement partners in the police service and Border Force to prevent this abuse where we can, disrupt it where we can’t and bring the perpetrators to justice where we can.”
Earlier this year, the Advertising Standards Authority was removing up to 100 social media posts a day promoting prescription drugs – many from illegal pharmacies.
It is illegal to advertise any prescription medicine in the UK. This includes content promoted on social media.
Semaglutide, more commonly known as Ozempic, is available NHS From 2019 for type 2 diabetes patients Controlling blood sugar levels.
Another semaglutide drug was approved for weight loss in 2022 under the brand name Wegovi.
It is for this reason that tirzepatide, known as Mounjaro, was given the green light earlier this year.
The jabs, which belong to a class of drugs called GPL-1 agonists, have been shown to help users lose up to 33lbs (15.3kg) on average over 68 weeks.
They work by tricking the brain into thinking it’s full, thereby reducing appetite and thereby helping people lose weight.
According to NHS guidelines, only patients with a body mass index (BMI) of 35 or over 30 and at least one weight-related health problem, such as high blood pressure, should be prescribed Wegovi.
Although private prescribers are not subject to this, they should still follow general professional guidelines and consider national guidelines to ensure that only patients who need the medicine receive it.
