One in ten online pharmacies 'cloned by criminals peddling counterfeit weight-loss jabs'

Patients are being conned into buying counterfeit weight loss drugs and beauty treatments by criminals posing as pharmacies online, the National Pharmacy Association (NPA) has warned.

It comes after two in five online pharmacies said they have seen patients unwittingly buy weight loss medication from unregulated providers in the last year.

Sehar Shahid, an NPA board member, warned the sale of counterfeit drugs online was "fast becoming a sophisticated criminal enterprise."

She added social media companies were falling "asleep at the wheel" by failing to tackle the number of accounts posing as pharmacies to offer health advice or prescribe drugs.

The NPA, which represents 6,000 pharmacies, have written to Health Secretary Wes Streeting urging the government to do more to keep patients safe online.

The NPA's survey of 100 online pharmacies, a quarter of the national total, found 1 in 10 had seen their social media accounts or websites cloned by criminals.

One pharmacy only became aware its online presence had been cloned after being contacted by a patient ho had been duped into buying a Mounjaro pen for a quarter of the market price but didn't feel any effects from using it.

Mounjaro prices in the UK currently range between £120 to £340 per month, depending on the dose and pharmacy.

Another unwitting patient who purchased GLP-1 medicine from a dodgy online pharmacy received a pen "labelled for another patient" and without a needle, the NPA said.

In a number of cases seen by the NPA, unregulated online providers copied regulator logos in an attempt to appear more legitimate, including the Care Quality Commission’s and the General Pharmaceutical Council’s (GPhC).

96% of pharmacies who reported incidents to social media companies felt they had received an insufficient response.

Meanwhile 92% were not satisfied with the response from the Medicines Healthcare and Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

Sehar Shahid, National Pharmacy Association board member, said illicit providers were faking medication, swapping it for an alternative or selling drugs which did not meet UK regulations.

She warned patients to be wary of "too good to be true" prices or not offering consultations before prescribing.

“Social media companies have been asleep at the wheel and have not done enough to prevent a booming market for counterfeit medicines to flourish on their platforms," she said,

“Although the MHRA works hard, their efforts are a drop in the ocean to tackle what is fast becoming a sophisticated criminal enterprise.

“We need tougher enforcement action and the government should put stronger safeguards in place to help patients clearly identify regulated providers online.”

The NPA are calling for the government to put in place stronger safeguards for patients to help them identify a safe and regulated online pharmacy.  

This includes the government introducing a new ‘.pharmacy’ domain name, similar to the ‘.gov’ domain for governmental bodies, to clearly identify regulated pharmacy websites.

They are also urging the government to reintroduce pre-Brexit rules that provided a list of all regulated online pharmacies as well as logos for webpages.

The survey included 100 distance selling pharmacies, representing around one quarter of all DSPs in the UK.

A Department of Health and Social Care spokesperson said they took "any attempt by criminals to exploit people seeking treatment online extremely seriously."

They said the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency - which acts on behalf of the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to regulate medicines - works to identify those unlawfully trading in medicines and will take "appropriate enforcement action, including, where necessary, prosecuting those who put people's health at risk".

The spokesperson added: “We are working closely with regulators, law enforcement and online platforms to crack down on illegal and unsafe medicines, including counterfeit weight loss drugs, and will continue to keep protections under review to ensure patients can access medicines safely.”

Supplying prescription‑only medicines illegally is a criminal offence.

Tim Duffield, Head of Intelligence, Enforcement, MHRA said: “We take all reports extremely seriously, and we will be reaching out to the NPA to gather a better understanding of the nature of these claims.

“While the MHRA does not regulate pharmacies, it is committed to protecting public health and supporting patients to make safe choices.

“Our Criminal Enforcement Unit works tirelessly to take action against those unlawfully trading in medicines, including online and will continue to take enforcement action where appropriate.

“Our teams have made significant seizures and arrests, preventing millions of doses of potentially dangerous products reaching patients and denying criminals millions of pounds in illegal profits and this work is ongoing.

“The MHRA continues to work with partners across government, enforcement agencies, and wider partners to tackle the threat of unauthorised medicines being supplied online.”