{"id":604577,"date":"2026-08-25T22:46:19","date_gmt":"2026-08-25T22:46:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/604577\/"},"modified":"2026-08-25T22:46:19","modified_gmt":"2026-08-25T22:46:19","slug":"health-inspectors-ban-webshop-from-selling-weight-loss-drugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/604577\/","title":{"rendered":"Health inspectors ban webshop from selling weight loss drugs"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>  August 25, 2026  <img width=\"2000\" height=\"1500\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Depositphotos_817170272_L.jpg\" class=\"attachment-full size-full wp-post-image\" alt=\"\" decoding=\"async\" fetchpriority=\"high\"  \/> Semaglutide is only prescribed in the Netherlands to treat diabetes. Photo: Depositphotos<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-2 d-block d-md-none\">See more DutchNews articles in your Google search results<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-2 d-none d-md-block\">See more DutchNews articles in your Google search results<\/p>\n<p> <a class=\"btn btn-primary py-1\" href=\"https:\/\/www.google.com\/preferences\/source?q=dutchnews.nl\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">   Add as a favourite source on Google Add DutchNews as a favourite source on Google  <\/a><\/p>\n<p>Health inspectors have banned a website from selling unlicensed weight loss drugs that it advertised on social media.<\/p>\n<p>De Peptidekoning sold two medicines prescribed to treat diabetes, semaglutide and tirzepatide, and a third, retatrutide, which is an experimental drug that has not been licensed in any country.<\/p>\n<p>The Health and Youth Care Inspectorate (IGJ) ordered the owners of the website to stop selling all three substances and warned patients not to risk their health with experimental treatments.<\/p>\n<p>It said De Peptidekoning, which trades through several websites including puritybase.com, did not have a license to sell the medicines. \u201cThey have not adequately ensured that the medicines meet standards for quality, safety and effectiveness,\u201d <a href=\"https:\/\/www.igj.nl\/actueel\/nieuws\/2026\/08\/24\/bevel-voor-online-webshop-peptidekoning\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">the IGJ said<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe way in which the medicines were offered for sale does not give enough reassurances, which creates risks for public health.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.rtl.nl\/nieuws\/opmerkelijk\/artikel\/5640995\/handelsverbod-peptidekoning-inspectie-gezondheidszorg\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">RTL Nieuws reported<\/a> that unauthorised traders were profiting from a black market in slimming treatments for people who were not prescribed medicines such as Ozempic, which are only available in the Netherlands to treat diabetes.<\/p>\n<p>Marloes Dankers, of the Utrecht-based Dutch Institute for the Rational Use of Medicine, an advisory body set up by doctors and pharmacists, said: \u201cPeople are making guinea-pigs of themselves.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThese medicines are still being researched and we don\u2019t know what exactly the risks are. That\u2019s the reason for doing the research.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Eli Lilly, the American manufacturer developing retratrutide, also urged people not to buy the drug online.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat is being sold on the black market is not a medicine, it has not been approved or verified in any way and it is not worth the risk,\u201d the company said.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dutchnews.nl\/category\/health\/?list\" class=\"btn btn-secondary btn-sm\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Health<\/a> Thank you for donating to DutchNews.nl.<\/p>\n<p class=\"small\"> We could not provide the Dutch News service, and keep it free of charge, without the generous support of our readers. Your donations allow us to report on issues you tell us matter, and provide you with a summary of the most important Dutch news each day.<\/p>\n<p> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dutchnews.nl\/donate-to-dutchnews-nl\" class=\"btn btn-success btn-sm\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\"> Make a donation <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"August 25, 2026 Semaglutide is only prescribed in the Netherlands to treat diabetes. Photo: Depositphotos See more DutchNews&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":604578,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[103,61,60,371],"class_list":["post-604577","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-medication","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-medication"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604577","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=604577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/604577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/604578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=604577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=604577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=604577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}