The UK’s medicines regulator does not have the resources to tackle a black market for counterfeit weight-loss pills, an MP has claimed.
Layla Moran, the chair of the health and social care committee, issued the warning following the approval of oral Wegovy pills last month, which experts fear could lead to a mass-production of fake drugs.
The Liberal Democrat said that while she welcomed the licensed medication hitting the shelves in a few weeks, there was “reason to be concerned that a black market for higher-strength, dangerous pills could emerge.”
She told The Independent: “The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) must prepare for this threat, but we have little confidence that it has the resources and powers it needs to clamp down on the vast amounts of illegal trade that is already pervasive on social media platforms.
“The agency recently told us it has a team of only six people trawling the internet and reacting to tip-offs, and that social media companies don’t respond as robustly as they should.”
The UK’s first GLP-1 pill for weight loss will be available privately on prescription this summer, and later through the NHS.
MPs and doctors have expressed fears about counterfeit semaglutide tablets, saying they will be easier to fake and access compared to the weight-loss jabs.
Data from January revealed that more than 6,500 counterfeit or unlicensed weight loss injections had been seized in the UK in the past three years.
Around two in five pharmacies encountered patients who unknowingly purchased fake weight-loss drugs within the last 12 months, according to a survey conducted by the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) in April.
Dr Alison Cave, the chief safety officer at the MHRA, said further investment was “essential to stay ahead of these threats and continue protecting the public.”
She added: “We work tirelessly every day to protect the public from fake medicines despite the growing threat of this dangerous trade.
“Only a few weeks ago we stopped thousands of doses of unsafe weight-loss medicines reaching the public in our largest ever seizure.”
Conservative MP Joe Robertson, who sits on the health and social care committee, said he was concerned about counterfeit pill production and believed measures needed to be put in place to prevent fakes from being sold.
He said: “The government needs to be proactive and understand that simply licensing something is just one step.”
Mr Robertson called for more education around “scams” ahead of the release of the medication.
“Health professionals have a role to play in that, educating people that not everything that is offered as a wonder drug is a wonder drug, and that people need to be very careful and cautious about how they access drugs, pills.”
He added that the medication played a “valuable and important” role as it reduced pressure on the NHS and its services by tackling obesity.
Asked about the threat during a committee meeting, public health minister Sharon Hodgson said: “That is something that we will have to be ready for.”
Dr. Nadia Ahmad, who founded The Weight Care Clinic, said: “Whenever there's a demand for a medication, we tend to automatically see an increase in counterfeit production.”
She said fake oral Wegovy pills was a “genuine concern” because they will be easier to create, distribute, and access, and more difficult to test compared to injections.
“Therefore, it's really easy to make a counterfeit product, sell it on the black market, in the gyms, where we're seeing a lot of counterfeit injections being sold, and on social media, so it's actually a very big concern.”
In the worst instance, people could die from taking fake pills, she said.
“There's always an element of death with taking any sort of medication that you know nothing about. We don't know what's in these drugs unless they are dispensed or made or administered by a healthcare professional.”
A spokesperson for MHRA added: “We work closely with law enforcement partners, other regulators and customs agencies, both in the UK and internationally, to uphold medicines legislation and disrupt criminal supply chains.
“We also collaborate with industry to tackle the online sale of illegally traded medicines and deliver public health messages aimed at reducing both supply and demand.
“We remain vigilant to emerging threats relating to unauthorised and falsified weight-loss products and, where necessary, will take appropriate enforcement action to protect public health.”
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