{"id":649169,"date":"2026-11-02T22:38:19","date_gmt":"2026-11-02T22:38:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/649169\/"},"modified":"2026-11-02T22:38:19","modified_gmt":"2026-11-02T22:38:19","slug":"peptide-use-contributing-to-syringe-shortages-pharmacists-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/649169\/","title":{"rendered":"Peptide use contributing to syringe shortages, pharmacists say"},"content":{"rendered":"

Pharmacists are worried a surge in non-regulated peptide use<\/a> has been contributing to a shortage in syringes used for life-saving medications.<\/p>\n

Health New Zealand warned that peptides promoted on social media for their supposed weight loss, anti-ageing and muscle-building benefits could carry significant risks.<\/p>\n

But despite the warnings, New Zealanders were still using them.<\/p>\n

Kelvin Lim, from Hataitai Pharmacy, told 1News there had been a huge increase in requests for diabetic syringes over the last few months from people who claimed to use peptides.<\/p>\n

“We were selling the diabetic ones because they are the only ones that can draw a smaller volume,” Lim said.<\/p>\n

\"Hataitai<\/p>\n

Hataitai Pharmacy’s Kelvin Lim. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

He said the increased demand had contributed to shortages, affecting people who needed the syringes to administer life-saving medication.<\/p>\n

“Often we will ask them to seek other places that might have the stock because for us it was quite hard to get the items ourselves.”<\/p>\n

Another Wellington pharmacist said they had three to four people a week requesting insulin syringes and needles to inject unregulated peptides.<\/p>\n

\"Free<\/p>\n

Free needles and syringes are being handed out. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

Health NZ said it had rolled out free peptide-specific injection kits in a bid to ease the pressure on supplies and reduce injection-related harm.<\/p>\n

Group manager of population health Bronwyn Petrie said more than 2000 kits had been distributed since mid-September through needle exchange providers and around 190 pharmacies.<\/p>\n

Each peptide kit contains equipment including syringes, needles, a returns container, and an information leaflet.<\/p>\n

“Our focus is on reducing preventable harm and ensuring people have access to accurate information and safer injecting equipment,” Petrie said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A free peptide-specific injection kit. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

Lim said their introduction had been a “big relief” for pharmacists.<\/p>\n

He added the kits were also important because some people using peptides might not know how to inject themselves safely.<\/p>\n

“We know that if we don’t supply that particular item, then they might run the risk of reusing needles, and that is a big health risk.”<\/p>\n

Health New NZ said while the kits were important for harm reduction, their introduction did not mean it endorsed the use of unapproved peptides.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Pharmacists are worried a surge in non-regulated peptide use has been contributing to a shortage in syringes used…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":649170,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[134,111,43,139,69],"class_list":["post-649169","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-zealand","tag-health","tag-new-zealand","tag-news","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649169","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=649169"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/649169\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/649170"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=649169"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=649169"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=649169"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}