RTÉ Investigates: Black Market Weight Loss

Medical experts have warned of significant health risks to members of the public after it has emerged that an experimental weight loss medication, which has no regulatory approval worldwide, is being sold on the Irish black market in a new documentary, RTÉ Investigates: Black Market Weight Loss to air tonight. Weight loss medication has become big business, with demand surging in recent years for a series of injectable pens that can help tackle obesity and diabetes. But with demand rising and supply restricted, a burgeoning black market has grown alongside it. 

RTÉ Investigates went undercover to examine how prescription-only weight loss medication is moving through the Irish black market 

During investigations related to the illegal sale of weight loss products, RTÉ Investigates discovered and filmed a woman based in Tuam, Co Galway, selling Retatrutide, an experimental medicinal product which is not approved for use anywhere globally, and still in clinical trials in the US. The woman, who is not a qualified doctor, advertises the product as "the most powerful weight loss treatment."  

RTÉ Investigates arranged to meet the woman advertising the product on social media in her Galway home. On arrival she supplied a package with a clear glass vial and several hypodermic needles, before offering to inject the substance there and then. Having been provided with no manufacturer or product information, RTÉ had the vial's contents independently analysed at a laboratory at University College Dublin with the results indicating it did contain Retatrutide. 

In a statement, Eli Lilly, the manufacturer of Retatrutide, told RTÉ Investigates the product has not been reviewed or approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, the European Medicines Agency, or any regulatory agency anywhere in the world and therefore at this time no one can sell it for human use.  They stated, Any product falsely representing itself as a Lilly investigational product ....like Retatrutide, may expose patients to potentially serious health risks."   

Professor Donal O'Shea, consultant endocrinologist and the HSE National Clinical Lead for Obesity told RTÉ, having viewed the undercover footage: "That is completely mad. That kind of delivery of a medication to an individual would have you struck off the Medical Council register if you did it once. I can't get my head around that. You were offered a clear injection from an unlabelled bottle, and you weren't told where it was manufactured - it doesn't really get any worse than that." 

Earlier this year RTÉ Investigates examined the beauty industry and the sale of Botox-type products by people not legally allowed to do so. During that investigation, evidence of another illegal trade alongside it in the industry began to emerge - the sale of what sellers online refer to as 'skinny pens'. These medications are commonly referred to as GLP1s because they mimic a hormone in the body which regulates appetite, thereby reducing hunger and making the user feel full. 
   
During a six-month investigation, RTÉ Investigates found several individuals, who are not doctors, nurses, or pharmacists, selling prescription only weight loss pens and medication directly to the public. In some cases, individuals were offering to inject people with the substances, despite not being qualified to do so. The products included weight loss pens from Turkey, counterfeit Semaglutide pens and unlabelled glass vials containing clear liquid which were provided in packs with hypodermic needles. In most cases the products are openly advertised on social media as "skinny pens" or "skinny jabs".  

In one case, RTÉ Investigates discovered a seller based in Dublin, who was advertising not only on her personal social media but also on many buy and sell sites in Dublin, Carlow, Wexford, Wicklow, Athlone, Meath and Louth.

At an undercover meeting she sold a pen which she said she purchased "outside the EU". RTÉ later established the woman travels to Turkey and has done so eight times so far and purchases 30-35 pens per trip. 

An RTÉ Investigates undercover colleague messaged her, and she responded immediately, saying "I have Saxenda injection pens. Same as Ozempic. One pen lasts 18 days and the price is 100 euros."  The two agreed to meet in a Dublin shopping centre for the purchase. It would be one of many RTÉ Investigates filmed over several months. During the exchange, the seller explained that she buys the pens outside the European Union. When our colleague asked about possible side effects from using the medication, she was told "it's just like taking paracetamol. They're very safe."  

"These medications are safe in high, high risk people,"says Prof Donal O'Shea about weight loss drugs generally. He says they are prescription only for good reason. "They have side effects and those side effects are nausea, vomiting, [but] you can get inflammation of your pancreas, pancreatitis. I've had two patients end up in intensive care based on kidney failure after starting these treatments," he said. 

Pharmacist, and former president of the Irish Pharmacy Union, Kathy Maher, told RTÉ Investigates there would be increased risks to the user of such products related to how it was transported. "To transport medicines that are fridge only products through heat and Turkey, through airports, through people with an ice pack, it already puts the quality of the product in question. And then to supply to patients that are going to inject it, it's a huge risk" she said.  

The Health Products Regulatory Authority, the body responsible for policing GLP1 medication and other prescription medication in Ireland said it has repeatedly warned of the health risks associated with the use of GLP1s that have been obtained outside of the legitimate pharmacy setting and without a prescription supplied by a doctor providing professional oversight.  

In updated figures released to RTÉ Investigates, the HPRA has confimed it has detained 1,469 units of GLP1 products this year, close to three-times the volume detained in 2023. In addition, up to the end of November, 456 web addresses linked to GLP1 products were removed or amended. That is more than double the 172 web addresses removed or amended in 2023.  

The HPRA also confirmed to RTÉ Investigates that from the beginning of January 2022 to the end of November 2024, it has been notified of 385 reports of suspected side effects associated with a medicine containing a GLP1 substance with 28 of these requiring a hospital attendance. It is unknown how many of these relate to products purchased on the black market.