Industry Focus
Slim and Shady—The Growth of an Industry in Weight “Loss Prevention
Theft and Counterfeiting of Slimming Jab Medication is at an Epidemic Level By John Wilson, Executive Editor
Christmas and New Year brings into sharp focus the peaks of excess and the hangover slump of spiking gym and slimming club memberships—the constant annual treadmill of eat, drink, slim, repeat.
But the handover to 2026 has added a sharp difference—literally. This manifests itself in the existence of so-called “wonder jabs” that have not only spawned a new era of a “get slim fast” mentality but have also created a global black economy in stolen and fake medications that have become prohibitively expensive as demand outstrips supply for those not prescribed the drugs by their GPs.
At least half a million NHS patients and some fifteen million patients in the US are now thought to be using weight loss jabs, which can help patients lose up to 20 per cent of their body weight in just a few months. And the numbers using them privately are even higher.
Weight loss drugs are seen as a critical part of the NHS’s ten-year health plan to tackle the obesity crisis, and the Government is committed to ensuring more people can access these “revolutionary” drugs safely over the next few years.
To this end, the NHS is currently implementing a phased roll-out to manage the workload on GPs in order to ensure that those most in need receive treatment first. This has further fuelled the limited availability as the ensuing rationing of the medication has meant that even those patients prescribed the medication struggle to source it from their pharmacies.
The strict NHS eligibility means that it is initially offering the jabs only to those who meet the criteria of high BMI (e.g. 40 or above) and multiple weight-related health conditions. But it has become apparent that the demand is driving criminal enterprises to circumnavigate the regulations.
This had led to safety concerns and health warnings that patients should only obtain these medicines with a prescription from a doctor and, importantly, be wary of fake versions sold online or in beauty parlours.
Now health officials have sounded the alarm over a surge in medicine theft, particularly the “miracle” weight loss jabs by pharmacy staff members, while large chains of chemists are engaging extra analysts to trawl for anomalous stock activity.
Originally developed as a diabetes treatment—known as a GLP-1 medication—the generic drug has soared in popularity in recent years among dieters looking to shed the pounds quickly.
But the demand, in part thanks to celebrity endorsements, has also seen mass shortages forcing medical professionals to ration the drug.
Now, Britain’s pharmacy regulator warned, in an open letter, that it had been forced to step in to “investigate concerns” that prescription drugs had been ordered and stolen by pharmacy staff.
Roz Gittins, chief pharmacy officer at The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), said the cases had involved medicines that are “liable to misuse, or have high monetary value, such as those used for weight management”.
The regulator also echoed calls by Britain’s advertising watchdog reminding pharmacies it was illegal to promote prescription slimming injections to the public.
She stresses that UK law forbids promotion of any prescription medication. This includes sponsored posts shared on social media. Doing so could result in a fine and up to two years in prison.
“We expect all pharmacies to make sure any adverts or promotion comply”, she said.
It comes as one pharmacy worker was spared jail after stealing Ozempic from his pharmacy and selling it on the black market.
Akshay Sennik, 31, who appeared in court this year was working at New Cross Pharmacy in south-east London when he stole the drugs between September 2023 and March 2024.
The dispensing assistant, who had worked in healthcare for nine years, was arrested after colleagues noticed “shrinkage” in the drug’s stockpile, the court heard.
He was sentenced to a two-year conditional discharge by Bromley magistrates after they heard his offending was motivated by alcoholism.
Last year, another dispensing pharmacist received a suspended sentence after stealing £15,000 worth of weight loss drugs and shingles vaccines whilst working for Superdrug and Well Pharmacy stores.
Modie Al-Shakarchi from Great Sankey, Warrington, Cheshire, was caught after he was observed on CCTV placing drugs into his rucksack. He had also sold £120 worth of stolen prescription drugs to a suspicious staff member who purchased them from his online store.
But he was sentenced to sixteen months in prison, suspended for eighteen months with the requirement that he completes ten days of rehabilitative activity and 150 hours of unpaid work.
The GPhC also enacted strict protocols in February in a bid to prevent Britons from lying about their weight to get their hands on slimming jabs and becoming dangerously ill.
It followed moves by some of Britain’s biggest pharmacies including Boots and Superdrug to put new personalised measures in place to stop patients who are a healthy weight from accessing Mounjaro, Ozempic, and Wegovy.
But despite patients being eager to take the drugs, the jabs are not without side effects.
Users commonly complain of nausea, constipation, and diarrhoea after taking the medication.
A Mail on Sunday investigation earlier this year revealed that almost 400 Brits had been hospitalised since the rollout of jabs such as Wegovy, Mounjaro, and Saxenda.
Some doctors also warned they were seeing patients with serious, life-threatening complications including seizures, bowel obstruction, and inflammation of the pancreas, known as pancreatitis.
Under NHS guidelines, only patients who have a BMI of over 40, and at least one weight-related health problem like high blood pressure, or those who have a BMI of 30 to 34.9 and meet the criteria for referral to a specialist weight management service, should be prescribed Wegovy.
Despite UK law forbidding the sale of such drugs without a prescription from a medical professional, sales of the “magic” weight loss drugs are marketed openly.
Skinny Jab Parties
ITV News has covertly filmed undercover at a “skinny jab party” where unlicensed weight loss drugs were being illegally sold.
Undercover ITV journalists were able to buy pre-filled syringes of Semaglutide, some of which contained ten times the recommended dosage.
One doctor described it as “unethical”, with potentially lethal consequences.
The undercover filming was part of a months-long investigation in conjunction with the Tonight programme into the skinny jab black market. It also found videos on social media of an NHS employee illegally promoting weight loss jabs.
ITV News bought skinny jab pens via an Instagram account, which had posted some of the videos, and tests later revealed the substance was unfit for human use.
Now, one UK GP has also called for tighter checks to prevent “skinny jabs” being sold online to people who do not meet the criteria for them.
The drugs are available on the NHS in England, Wales, and Scotland, but must be prescribed by a weight management service.
However, it is estimated that hundreds of thousands of people are getting prescriptions privately through online pharmacies.
Dr Ali Ilyas, from Cleethorpes, north-east Lincolnshire, said patients had admitted using weight loss drugs such as Wegovy and Mounjaro without qualifying for them.
According to The General Pharmaceutical Council (GPhC), online pharmacies should verify people are suitable for the injections through an “appropriate consultation” or by accessing medical records.
However, during two test purchases, the BBC was able to obtain drugs simply by falsifying the applicant’s weight and supplying photographs.
Dr Ilyas said, “It’s happening a lot, people going on to these online providers and getting their way around by filling out simple online forms without any actual consultation”.
“On average, we probably get fifteen to 20 requests every day for the weight loss injections”.
“We can point them to the relevant weight loss services, but they still might not be able to get the injections”.
Dr Ilyas said it was the responsibility of the prescriber or provider “to make sure that they are doing the right thing”.
“People should be aware that if they are getting something like this without any appropriate consultation it might lead them to serious harm”, he added.
In February 2025, the GPhC introduced new rules which said online pharmacies should not rely solely on an online questionnaire and should independently verify the person’s weight, height, and/or body mass index.
However, two online pharmacies, MedExpress and Juniper, prescribed drugs within days after a BBC reporter filled in an online questionnaire and provided details of their medical history and GP, with no in-person or virtual consultation.
Juniper said in a statement: “A deviation from protocols was identified which does not reflect our usual practice and we will be taking the appropriate action.
Juniper is committed to providing safe and responsible access to prescription-only weight loss medications in strict accordance with all applicable guidelines.
All patients are assessed by qualified prescribers with expertise in this treatment area to ensure the appropriateness and safety of every medication that is supplied.
We take our responsibility for patient safety extremely seriously and are looking into this matter with the utmost urgency.”
Global Epidemic of International Criminality
But the problem of theft is not the only issue, and the demand for the medication goes beyond theft and the UK borders.
An investigation from US news outlet CNBC into counterfeit weight loss drugs revealed an international illegal marketplace where criminals either brazenly alter the drugs or ship the real product from overseas—what’s
known as drug diversion and against federal law.
The operations mainly involve fake or illegal versions of Novo Nordisk’s diabetes drug Ozempic and its obesity drug Wegovy as well as Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro and Zepbound. The skyrocketing demand for the treatments has led to criminal schemes attempting to capitalise on the surge.
CNBC bought a drug marketed as Ozempic from a company called “Laver Beauty”, which on its website and corporate documents listed its address as on a quiet residential street in Boulder, Colorado. The drug cost $219 for a month’s supply, a fraction of the list price of $968 for a month’s supply of Ozempic in the U.S.
The owners of the home in Boulder say they have no connection to the company—though they’ve received mail and a 1099 IRS tax form addressed to Laver Beauty.
The drug that CNBC purchased was shipped via DHL from an office building in Shijiazhuang, China, a four-hour drive from Beijing. The package that arrived at CNBC headquarters in New Jersey was a plain cardboard box with no refrigeration except for two melted ice packs—despite the fact that Ozempic is supposed to be stored refrigerated. The drug packaging, which appeared authentic, featured Chinese writing and the Novo Nordisk logo.
In an email, Novo Nordisk said the drug appeared to be “diverted legitimate product that was produced for, and distributed to, the Chinese market during late ’23 and early ’24. Therefore, it would be unauthorized/unapproved for the US market”.
The company added that it “cannot confirm the sterility, which may present an increased risk of infection for patients who use the counterfeit product”.
Law enforcement sources told CNBC that the Ozempic received from China is part of a larger ongoing federal investigation into Ozempic packages being shipped to the U.S.
A person who identified himself as a company representative of Lavar Beauty told CNBC in a WhatsApp chat, “All our products are genuine. We don’t sell fake ones”. The person acknowledged that the product CNBC purchased was intended for the Chinese market.
The representative also messaged that the Boulder address “is the previous address of our U.S. warehouse”. A day after CNBC enquired about the Boulder address, it was removed from the company’s website.
Counterfeit Medication
A separate but related growing problem is the rise of counterfeit drugs.In the UK, authorities last year seized hundreds of counterfeit insulin pens that had been relabelled as Ozempic.
“We saw that the demand increased and, quite often as it happens in these situations, criminals try and fill a gap where the supply and demand aren’t balanced for a particular product, and we started seeing real counterfeit versions of the Ozempic product on the market”, said Andy Morling, deputy director of criminal enforcement for the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency.
Eli Lilly, the maker of Mounjaro and Zepbound, said it is actively fighting the counterfeits.
“We have a very elaborate and rigorous system to test medicines before they’re allowed to be used in patients. But unfortunately, counterfeits don’t go through that system at all”, Dr. Daniel Skovronsky, Eli Lilly’s chief scientific officer and president of Lilly Research Labs said.
He showed CNBC a sophisticated fake that was labelled as Mounjaro, but in reality, contained an entirely different medication—one for Type 2 diabetes that doesn’t result in weight loss.
“It looks to all the world like Mounjaro, comes in a box that’s labelled as Mounjaro, but it’s not Mounjaro at all”, he said.
Counterfeiters are even trying to cash in on a weight loss drug that the company hasn’t even put on the market yet: Retatrutide.
“We’re testing it in Phase 3 clinical trials. We don’t know yet, but I hope to get those results next year and we’ll find out”, Skovronksy added.
Port Seizures Rising
Finding fake or diverted Ozempic and other obesity drugs is common at the international mail facility located at John F. Kennedy International Airport in New York.
More than 60,000 seizures of counterfeit and illegal goods were made last year at the facility.
“I am not surprised, and unfortunately, any of these new types of drugs that we’re seeing, whether it be weight loss drugs or other drugs, we’ll see them either diverted, counterfeited or illegally shipped through this facility”, Sal Ingrassia, the port director overseeing U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) at JFK, told CNBC.
Since January the agency has seized almost 200 medicines labelled as Ozempic. Nine shipments of medication labelled as Wegovy were also confiscated, as well as one shipment labelled as Mounjaro.
The CBP seizures data doesn’t specify how much of that medication was real and diverted to the U.S. or counterfeit.
Ingrassia said he expects the number of interceptions of weight loss products to double in the next year.
He said diverted products are ordered online or via social media.
“These are mostly individuals that are ordering this, going online and looking for a deal. And obviously taking a big risk by doing that. But we’ve also seen these products being ordered by doctors’ offices”, he said.
Some are also sold through social media sites including Facebook and TikTok accounts impersonating GLP-1 makers to sell versions of the drug.
Spokespeople for Meta and TikTok said their platforms do not allow the sale of prescription drugs and that the companies take action to remove those listings.
A Meta spokesperson said: “This is a challenge that spans platforms, industries, and communities which is why we work with law enforcement, regulators, and private industry to combat this problem. We continue to invest resources and further improve our enforcement on this kind of content”.
The Turkey Connection
Counterfeit Ozempic has been reported in fifteen countries, according to the World Health Organisation, which issued a global alert in June warning of the health risks of purchasing fake products.
Turkey is one of the epicentres of the lucrative counterfeit drug trade, according to U.S. authorities who track counterfeit drugs.
Last autumn, the Turkish National Police conducted raids throughout Istanbul as part of a co-ordinated international crackdown.
Direnc Bada, an Istanbul-based attorney who represents major pharmaceutical companies in Turkey, pointed to “an increasing amount of online channels promoting these products and it’s forbidden in Turkey to sell these through online channels”.
In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) announced in an alert in December that it had seized thousands of units of counterfeit Ozempic in the legitimate U.S. supply chain.
Asked about the status of the investigation into the counterfeit Ozempic, an FDA spokesman said the risks in purchasing counterfeit drugs can be high.
“Given the delicate nature of the formulation and the specific shipping requirements for the drugs, consuming illegal versions can be dangerous to a person’s health”, he said.
Reports of health issues with weight loss drugs containing Semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic, or Tirzepatide, the active ingredient in Mounjaro, have seen a sharp rise since 2019.
These issues centre around serious side effects such as severe gastrointestinal issues, including intestinal blockages and pancreatitis. A significant number of reports are linked to the misuse of unapproved, illegally obtained, or incorrectly dosed compounded versions of these drugs, but serious adverse events, even with the approved medications are also being investigated and leading to updates in warning labels.
Lawsuits have already been filed against drug manufacturers alleging that they failed to adequately warn about serious side effects, such as gastroparesis, according to Drugwatch.com, a spin-off medical expert website of a prominent U.S. law firm.
As we approach peak, analysts at some of the world’s largest pharmacy businesses will be putting in the hours to spot anomalous activities in their stock files of the miracle before Christmas medications.
Meanwhile, consumers are being warned that those looking at a “new start, new you” must think twice about quick fix weight loss and the temptations to explore the slim and shady activities of those criminal enterprises cashing in on high demand and human frailty.
