Officers from the Criminal Enforcement Unit (CEU) of The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) have raided premises involved in the manufacture and sale of unlicensed weight-loss medicines.
The MHRA reports that the officers seized almost 2,000 doses of unauthorised weight-loss medicines awaiting dispatch to customers, alongside manufacturing equipment, suspected pharmaceutical ingredients, packaging and commercial vehicles.
The two premises were located in Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire and were comprised of a farm near Sleaford and a residential address in Grantham. The MHRA states that the sites are believed to have been used for the manufacture and distribution of unlicensed weight-loss medicines, including retatrutide and tirzepatide, as well as peptide products.
Andy Morling, head of the MHRA’s criminal enforcement unit, commented, “The message from today to those illegally trading in medicines could not be clearer – we are coming for you. Every illegal product and every piece of manufacturing equipment we seize disrupts these criminal networks and brings us closer to dismantling them entirely. I’m grateful to our partners in Lincolnshire Police, Immigration Enforcement and Lincolnshire Trading Standards for their support to today’s operation.”