Maddie, 32, became seriously ill after using fake semaglutide injections she bought on Instagram.
The injection contains a drug called Ozempic found that some illegal gangs were selling semaglutide as an over-the-counter weight loss drug.
The injection is also sold in beauty salons in many UK cities such as Manchester and Liverpool.
Demand for Vizempic, a drug prescribed to treat type 2 diabetes, has skyrocketed in the past few years.
Many newspapers touted the drug as Hollywood’s ‘secret cure’ for weight loss. This medicine lowers the blood sugar level and also slows down the digestive process.
The drug’s growing popularity led to hundreds of people using it to lose weight, which led to global supply problems and a shortage of the drug for diabetics.
As UK pharmacies struggle to get the drug, an online market selling ‘diet kits’ containing semaglutide has flourished.
These kits were delivered by post. These kits usually contained needles and two vials. One vial contained a white powder and the other a solution.
The kit was mailed to Maddie after she began searching Instagram to find a way to lose weight in a short amount of time before going to an event.
“I have trouble losing weight,” Maddy told us. I am not one of those people who can change my body easily.’
Maddy got in touch with a company called ‘Lip King’. Lip King’s Instagram profile is filled with photos of skinny women and screenshots of text messages from customers praising the company’s products.
Maddie decided to give them a try.
After exchanging a few messages with company owner Jordan Parke and transferring £200, Maddie was sent 10mg of semaglutide.
Maddy also received a video on WhatsApp, with instructions on how to mix and inject the medicine, advising her to take more than the dose recommended by health authorities.
Immediately after the first injection, Maddie became “very sick and started vomiting.”
Jordan Parke told Maddie via text message that vomiting was normal.
After a few weeks, when Maddie’s nausea subsided, Maddie decided to use the drug again, but this time she took it at night before bed.
“I woke up vomiting,” says Maddy. It was very scary. I vomited all night, until I started vomiting blood and white foam.
She went to the emergency room the next morning, where she was treated for dehydration.
I thought I was going to die. I cried in front of my mother too. I was also very angry because no one had told me about its side effects.
“I did my own research but I saw that no one was suffering as much as I was,” she says.
Jordan Parke is one of many illegal sellers who sell semaglutide through social media.
To find out what these drugs actually contain, buy semaglutide from various unlicensed sellers and send the products to a laboratory for testing.
Laboratory results showed discrepancies in the composition of each sample. Although most products contain semaglutide, the bottles supplied by several vendors contain no active ingredient and almost all, including those purchased from the ‘Lip King’ profile, have the full dosage listed on them. no.
Ozempic is only available for people with type 2 diabetes under the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK.
Another drug, Vigovi, is recommended specifically for treating obesity, but NHS recommendations suggest it can only be prescribed to people with a body mass index (BMI) of at least 35. be
Pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk is the only company authorized to sell semaglutide, but it is currently fighting the sale of fake versions online.
The company says it is ‘working to identify and remove websites, advertisements or social media accounts that sell counterfeit semaglutide’ and that it is ‘working against copyright infringement, criminal networks and illegally researching the sale of its products.’
But some sellers, whose websites and social media profiles have been blocked, continue to operate, often creating new platforms under new names.
“You can sell a lot of things on one label,” explains legal expert Gerard Henrate. It does not mean that the product is legal and complies with the regulations.
He added that those selling it will have to prove that they are selling the product for research and not for human consumption.
A documentary film The Skinny Jab Uncovered revealed that unapproved versions of the drug are also being sold in some UK beauty parlors.
Journalists visited four such beauty salons in Manchester and Liverpool without revealing their identities.
In one room, a reporter overheard someone say, “If you overeat, you don’t want to eat anything.” You may feel sick but it is not dangerous.’
The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) says it has received reports of people being admitted to hospital after using fake Ozympic pens. More than 300 Ozympic pens have also been seized from the market since January.
Barbara McGowan, consultant to a Novo Nordisk-funded study testing semaglutide to treat obesity, says approved drugs such as Ozempic and Vigovi go through strict quality control before approval.
She warns that those buying semaglutide outside of the legal supply chain “can use anything in the injection.”
According to Barbara McGowan, drugs like semaglutide can cause ‘significant side effects’ such as nausea in some patients and therefore require appropriate medical attention and monitoring.
“It is not just a question of prescription but it is important to carefully understand the comprehensive instructions given by the health professionals before using it.”
Dale Dennis, a trainer in East Yorkshire in the UK, sells 10 mg vials of Ozempic, an unlicensed product.
Dennis advertises it on social media and asks buyers to message him on WhatsApp to order it.
His company, Raw Peptides Limited, is registered as a business selling ‘new cars and vans’.
Dr Simon Cork of Anglia Ruskin University in the UK emphasizes that semaglutide is not a short-term weight loss solution and is only suitable for people who are ‘obese’.
“It (cosmetic use) can be seen as selfish because people who use it really want to lose weight, but the drug was not designed to help people like that.”
He said mixing and injecting weight-loss drugs at home carried “serious risks”.
Vials of semaglutide sold illegally on the Internet do not even include instructions to prevent patients from overdosing.
Tilly, 22, decided to stop using semaglutide after she accidentally overdosed.
“When I received the medicine, there were no instructions written on it. I was quite surprised. I also messaged the company about what I want to do with it.
Tilly said that she started having severe headaches and felt pressure.
The UK’s Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) says it will use its powers to protect the public and prosecute those who use the drug illegally.