£2m fake weight-loss pens found in 'filthy' hub

More than 12,000 counterfeit weight-loss pens, worth an estimated £2m, have been seized in a raid on an industrial unit.

The fake goods were found at a "filthy warehouse" on an estate in Birmingham, according to the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

"There is no guarantee of what they contain or whether they have been contaminated with harmful substances," said the agency. .

Packaging for about 30,000 extra products was also discovered.

The MHRA said the pens contained fake versions of the drugs retatrutide and tirzepatide, medicines used for weight loss.

A BBC investigation previously found vials purporting to be "reta" as it's become known, were being sold in the UK in gyms, nail and beauty salons, hairdressers, on social media and even by flower sellers on the street.

Retatrutide has not been authorised for use in the UK, the MHRA said, meaning it is illegal to sell the drug outside clinical trials, and could pose serious risk to public health.

Medicines, including weight-loss drugs, are strictly regulated to ensure they are safe and effective.

These jabs are not made in licensed laboratories and therefore the ingredients, sterility, dosage and quality cannot be guaranteed, which is why they are considered illicit.

Tim Duffield, head of intelligence at the agency's criminal enforcement unit, said officers carried out the raid on Wednesday in conjunction with West Midlands Police.

The agency was "tackling the organised crime gangs whose illegal trade in unauthorised medicines puts people at risk of serious harm," he said.

He urged people to speak to healthcare professionals and obtain weight-loss medicines from registered pharmacies with valid prescriptions rather than buying unregulated drugs.

Earlier this year the MHRA seized fake weight-loss drugs in Northamptonshire, Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire.

The first illicit weight-loss medicine production facility to be discovered in the UK was dismantled last October in Northampton.

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