‘I nearly died after buying weight loss jab from friend of friend’

Chloe is just one of several people in the UK who have ended up in hospital after taking “skinny jabs”.

Last May, Karen McGonigal from Salford collapsed and died.

Her daughters said it was days after being injected with a £20 weight loss jab in a beauty salon, although the official cause of death hasn’t yet been announced.

Liverpool GP partner and obesity expert Nicki Mazey said the trend was becoming increasingly worrying.

“It’s not safe. I’m aware that people have ended up buying steroids instead of Mounjaro. I’m also aware that some people are sharing pens, which is a huge infection risk for HIV and hepatitis,” she said.

She said part of the problem was that people who could theoretically buy them legally were unable to afford them. Doses can cost up to £300 a month.

Both Mounjaro and Wegovy are available on the NHS but the criteria is currently very strict. In theory under NICE guidelines it can be given to people with a BMI of 35 or over and one related health condition (for Mounjaro) or a BMI of 30 and over with one related health condition (for Wegovy). The criteria for patients from some ethnic minorities is slightly lower as NICE judged that they were at higher risk for weight-related diseases.

NICE calculated that for Mounjaro alone 3.4 million people would qualify under these criteria, external. Modelling by the NHS concluded that this would cost billions of pounds a year with a high of £3.9 billion at the end of the second year, external.

The NHS decided that this cost was unsustainable and restricted it initially to patients with a BMI of 40 and four related health conditions from a list of five (37.5 BMI for some groups). In June the BMI requirement will go down to 35 but patients will still need the four health conditions.

Dr Mazey said she had even seen people with a BMI of 100 who had been unable to obtain the drugs on the NHS because they did not have all four related health conditions, and that she was having to regularly turn down patients who would benefit.

But she warned against buying cheaper drugs illegally, even if it turned out to be genuine.

“These pens have to be stored in certain temperatures. They can’t be out for more than 30 days (once they’ve been opened),” she said.