Illegal Weight Loss Jabs Flood London's Informal Markets
A shocking report from the London Assembly's health committee has uncovered that weight loss injections are being sold illegally across the capital, including in pubs and fish and chip shops. The investigation, which gathered evidence from September to November 2025, reveals a disturbing trend where these potentially dangerous medications are being peddled outside legitimate healthcare channels.
Personal Trainers and Beauty Professionals Exploit Demand
According to the report, there is substantial evidence that personal trainers are offering clients boxes of weight loss medication, while beauticians and other non-medical professionals are capitalising on soaring interest in these drugs. Sukhi Basra from the National Pharmacy Association shared accounts from patients who were approached by facial therapists, hairdressers, or personal trainers with offers of so-called 'skinny jabs'. One patient even forwarded an image of a personal trainer openly displaying a box of fake weight loss injections for sale.
A Daily Mail investigation in November highlighted how beauticians were selling life-threatening jabs to unsuspecting individuals, underscoring the grave risks associated with these unregulated transactions. The report notes that while some products might be genuine but not legitimately prescribed, many others are completely counterfeit, posing 'serious risks to people's health'.
Regulatory Gaps and International Threats
The committee heard that providers in the EU and European Economic Area (EEA) can legitimately send prescriptions into the UK, creating an area 'that is not being regulated', as explained by Neha Ramaiya of the General Pharmaceutical Council. This loophole allows products from outside the UK to be shipped into the country, bypassing crucial safety checks. Additionally, there are reports that Chinese laboratories can imitate genuine weight loss drugs and sell them for as little as £1.50 a vial, which dealers then buy in bulk and resell for profit.
Between January 2024 and June 2025, approximately 18,000 illegal and counterfeit weight loss and diabetes medicines were seized at UK borders, but the committee suggested that many jabs may still evade enforcement efforts. The illicit sales demonstrate that current regulations are 'not succeeding in tackling this threat', the report concluded.
Health Warnings and Enforcement Actions
Novo Nordisk, the manufacturer of the weight loss jab Wegovy, warned the committee that fake medicines represent a 'serious and growing threat to public health'. Ms Ramaiya emphasised that the health effects of counterfeit medications could be 'potentially life-threatening', highlighting the urgency of addressing this issue.
In response, the final report recommended 'greater regulation and enforcement in this space', calling for significant collaboration across regulators and agencies, along with regular monitoring of illegal channels, advertising, and social media. Recent enforcement actions include a raid last month by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which seized nearly 2,000 doses of fake weight loss medication just hours before they were to be sent to customers. Officers from the agency's criminal enforcement unit targeted two properties in Lincolnshire and Nottingham as part of an ongoing probe into an organised crime gang involved in producing and selling these treatments.
The findings underscore a critical public health crisis, with illegal weight loss jabs infiltrating everyday venues and posing severe dangers to unsuspecting consumers.
