{"id":492685,"date":"2026-03-24T14:00:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-24T14:00:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/492685\/"},"modified":"2026-03-24T14:00:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-24T14:00:08","slug":"over-750000-illegal-medicines-seized-by-hpra-last-year","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/492685\/","title":{"rendered":"Over 750,000 illegal medicines seized by HPRA last year"},"content":{"rendered":"

More than 750,000 units of illegal medicines were seized by the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) last year.<\/p>\n

Figures released by the HPRA confirmed that a total of 763,027 dosage units were detained in 2025.<\/p>\n

Almost 14,000 individual packages were found to be linked to a separate purchase by a member of the public of illegal or falsified medicines, a threefold (180%) increase of individual consignments since 2024.<\/p>\n

A significant proportion of these were presented as GLP\u20111 products for personal use, which increased from 1,582 in 2024 to 48,752 in 2025.<\/p>\n

Authorised GLP-1 prescription-only medicines are intended for specific medical purposes, such as diabetes or weight management under certain conditions.<\/p>\n

\"A
\nHPRA testing on a sample of detained GLP-1 products from some did not contain semaglutide<\/p>\n

Common GLP-1 brands include Ozempic, Mounjaro and Saxenda.<\/p>\n

Testing conducted by the HPRA on a sample of the transdermal patches detained in 2025 found that they did not contain semaglutide.<\/p>\n

Other samples were found to contain either powder or clear liquid.<\/p>\n

The majority of the detained GLP-1 products were promoted as containing semaglutide or tirzepatide and were presented primarily as GLP\u20111 drops (27,329 items) or microneedle patches (17,170 items).<\/p>\n

In the 12 months of 2025, the most significant categories of illegal products detained included sedatives (27%), erectile dysfunction medicines (14%), anabolic steroids (12%), diabetes\/slimming medication (9%) and analgesics (5%).<\/p>\n

The HRPA has warned the public of the serious health risks associated with sourcing prescription medicines online, which is illegal.<\/p>\n

“Sourcing prescription medicines outside of a registered pharmacy and without appropriate medical supervision poses a significant risk to your health,” HPRA Compliance Manager Jennifer McCartan said.<\/p>\n

She added: “Products obtained through online or other unauthorised channels fall outside the regulated supply chain, meaning their quality, safety, and origins cannot be assured.<\/p>\n

\"\"
\nThe HRPA has warned of serious health risks associated with sourcing prescription medicines online<\/p>\n

“These medicines may be counterfeit, mislabelled, or contain harmful or ineffective ingredients. Using such products can result in serious adverse effects and represents a real but fully avoidable danger to public health.”<\/p>\n

Pregabalin is another product that saw a significant increase in detentions in 2025, rising from 23,442 in 2024 to 59,905.<\/p>\n

This represents the fifth consecutive year\u2011on\u2011year increase and reflects a wider global trend in the illegal, non\u2011medical use of this product.<\/p>\n

The HPRA said it will initiate prosecution cases where it considers that there is a significant risk to public health or where there are persistent non-compliances.<\/p>\n

The authority also co-operates and shares intelligence with other regulatory and law enforcement agencies across Europe and worldwide to prevent the illegal manufacture, importation and distribution of medicines, medical devices, and cosmetics.<\/p>\n

A full list of the seized medicines include:<\/p>\n

– Sedative medicines – 205,270 units detained<\/p>\n

– Erectile dysfunction – 103,185 units detained<\/p>\n

– Anabolic steroids – 94,647 units detained<\/p>\n

– Diabetes\/Slimming – 65,148 units detained<\/p>\n

– Analgesic medicines – 40,669 units detained<\/p>\n

The HPRA regulates medicines and devices for the benefit of people and animals.<\/p>\n

The products under its remit include human and veterinary medicines, medical devices, blood and blood components, tissues and cells, organs for transplantation, and cosmetics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"More than 750,000 units of illegal medicines were seized by the Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) last year.…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":492686,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[42],"tags":[102,6591,56,54,55],"class_list":{"0":"post-492685","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-medication","8":"tag-health","9":"tag-medication","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom","12":"tag-unitedkingdom"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492685","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=492685"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/492685\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/492686"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=492685"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=492685"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=492685"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}