The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said it seized more than 12,000 fake pens sold as retatrutide and tirzepatide in Birmingham on Oct. 14, citing uncertainty about what they contained.
West Midlands Police joined the operation at an industrial unit. The MHRA valued the medicines at about £2 million. Officers also seized packaging for around 30,000 additional products; the agency did not specify what those packages were designed to hold.
The MHRA said no assessment had established whether the medicines met safety, quality or effectiveness standards, and it could not assure consumers about their contents or possible contamination. Retatrutide is not authorized for use in the U.K. The agency says products sold under that name outside legitimate clinical trials are supplied illegally.
The raid follows other MHRA operations involving unauthorized weight-loss medicines. In May, two men, both 29, were arrested after officers recovered about 12,000 doses at a Northamptonshire estate. In February, the agency reported seizing nearly 2,000 doses at premises in Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire.
Tim Duffield, head of intelligence at the MHRA’s Criminal Enforcement Unit, said the agency’s enforcement work aims to reduce serious harm from illegal medicine sales. The MHRA advises people considering GLP-1 treatment to consult a health care professional and obtain medicines from a registered pharmacy with a valid prescription.
