Black-market weight drugs put hundreds in hospital with diarrhoea and vomiting

Hundreds of people have been hospitalised by the side effects of weight-loss drugs.

There were 118 in November alone, according to data compiled by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).

It brings the total number to nearly 400 in the six years since semaglutide and tirzepatide drugs like Wegovy, Mounjaro and Saxenda were rolled out by the NHS, Mail on Sunday reports.

At least one death has been linked with tirzepatide, sold under the brand name Wegovy.

Susan McGowan, 58, started experiencing severe stomach and sickness days after receiving her second dose of a Mounjaro injection she’d bought from an online pharmacy. She died on September 4, roughly two weeks after her first dose, BBC News reported.

Her death certificate listed ‘the use of prescribed tirzepatide’ as a contributing factor alongside the immediate causes of death – multiple organ failure, septic shock and pancreatitis.

Although an estimated half a million people are using the weight-loss drugs in the UK, just 5% are being prescribed them by the NHS.

Many of those who have fallen ill bought the medications online and through social media rather than in pharmacies with an NHS prescription.

Shannon Flannery, 27, spent four days in A&E urinating blood and vomiting continuously after buying an appetite-suppressing drug dubbed ‘celebs’ best kept secret’ from what she believed was a ‘safe seller’ on Instagram.

Paige Roberts, 24, thought she was going to die when she spent days vomiting after using black market weight-loss injections, BBC reports.

She weighed too little to be prescribed the anti-obesity medication, despite her GP advising her to lose weight to help re-start her periods and ease the symptoms of polycystic ovarian syndrome.

Lynsay McAvoy, 42, experienced a severe allergic reaction after using injections she bought online, despite weighing 51kg.

The beautician’s tongue got itchy and swelled in her mouth. Her eyes ‘burned’ until they were so bloodshot she couldn’t see any white.

Her heart ‘felt like it was about to explode’, until she passed out and banged her head against a wall, dislocating her jaw.

‘Fake’ weight loss drugs may not contain semaglutide at all, according to the MHRA, which warned they may be insulin instead.

This has put some people in hospital with hypoglycemic shock and coma as a result of very low blood sugar levels.

For those using legitimate weight-loss drugs, the side effects reported to the MHRA include gastrointestinal problems like persistent nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea, resulting in dehydration.

Sometimes, patients experience more ‘serious, life-threatening complications’ including seizures, bowel obstruction and inflammation of the pancreas.

Overall these rarely occur, affecting 17,831 people in November, out of around 500,000 who take them.

But that is a 19% rise from the previous month, causing concern among health professionals.

Dr Vicky Price, president-elect of the Society for Acute Medicine, said: ‘I and many other colleagues in acute medicine across the UK are very concerned about the increasing numbers of patients we are seeing with complications from new weight loss drugs they have purchased online.

‘We are seeing serious, life-threatening complications including inflammation of the pancreas gland and alterations in blood salt levels in these patients who were not aware of the risk they were taking.

‘Sadly these presentations are not slowing down despite the issue being raised consistently over recent months.

‘We continue to highlight this inappropriate use with the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency as there is a need for urgent regulation and control of access for weight loss drugs online to avoid more patients becoming unwell.’

Despite concerns around side effects and black market knock-offs, the regulator and producers have assured the public the drugs are safe.

Dr Alison Cave, chief safety officer of the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which approved the drug as a weight-loss aid in 2023, previously said: ‘No medicine would be approved unless it met our expected standards of safety, quality and effectiveness.’

Pharmaceutical company Lilly, which produces Mounjaro, said: ‘We are committed to continually monitoring, evaluating, and reporting safety information for all Lilly medicines.

‘Mounjaro was approved based on extensive assessment of the benefits and risks of the medicine, and we provide information about the benefits and risks of all our medicines to regulators around the world to ensure the latest information is available for prescribers.’

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