India’s weight-loss drug boom is fuelling a growing market for fake and unauthorised medicines. Counterfeit Mounjaro, heavily discounted injections and even unapproved obesity drugs are being offered to consumers, according to a Bloomberg News report.
Among the products turning up in the market are fake versions of Eli Lilly’s and unapproved retatrutide, the company’s next-generation obesity drug.
The investigation began after Amandeep Chauhan, a drug control officer in Haryana, noticed Mounjaro being advertised on IndiaMART at about 20% below its usual retail price of ₹13,125 for a month’s treatment, Bloomberg reported.
Chauhan arranged to meet a seller in Gurugram. According to Bloomberg, investigators found three cartons of Mounjaro pens in a Maruti Suzuki sedan before tracing the operation to a rented two-bedroom apartment.
The apartment contained injector pens, syringes, labels and packaging carrying Eli Lilly branding, as well as a refrigerator containing vials of peptides, Bloomberg reported.
Chauhan arrested businessman Avi Sharma in April. Products seized during the raid were tested by and found to be counterfeit. Several doses contained 30% or less of the labelled concentration of tirzepatide, the active ingredient in Mounjaro, according to Bloomberg.
Bloomberg reported that expensive branded obesity medicines have helped create demand for cheaper alternatives. Patients can find sellers through Telegram, WhatsApp, online marketplaces and other informal channels.
The report also found that India’s large pharmaceutical manufacturing ecosystem gives counterfeiters access to ingredients, packaging and other supplies. Regulators have previously identified falsified medicines linked to India’s supply chains, Bloomberg reported.
India is also seeing a rapid expansion of generic semaglutide products following the expiry of Novo Nordisk’s patent for the active ingredient, Bloomberg reported.
Nearly three dozen generic semaglutide brands have entered the market, including tablets, vials and injectable products, according to the report.
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The underground market has also reached experimental medicines. Bloomberg reported that investigators recovered retatrutide during the Gurugram raid.
Retatrutide has not been approved for sale by any regulator and remains under clinical development. Yet, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that unofficial distributors had approached doctors, wellness centres and beauty clinics in Mumbai with offers to supply it.
Listings for retatrutide have also appeared on IndiaMART and TradeIndia, Bloomberg reported.
Eli Lilly told Bloomberg: “Retatrutide is an investigational medicine, available in Lilly’s clinical trials, and has not been approved by any regulator anywhere in the world. No one can legally sell it for human use.”
Counterfeit Mounjaro can be difficult to spot, but these warning signs may help:
