Care Pharmacy in Bradford has started a campaign to warn patients in the area against using black market weight loss drugs.

The pharmacy will run promotional material across digital channels and host community outreach events throughout the local area.

The campaign is called “Weight Loss: Real Medicine. Real Care. Real Safety.” and is “designed to reinforce the importance of regulated prescribing, clinical oversight and ongoing patient monitoring”.

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Care Pharmacy owner Mohammed Ismail Lakhi said “we want patients to know that health advice around weight loss medication should come from healthcare professionals and not social media algorithms”.

Staff at Care were “being made aware of individuals attempting to source or sell unregulated products” and also witnessed an “increase in customers who have previously been offered the medication through online channels or street dealers”.

As part of the campaign, the pharmacy is also encouraging “anyone offered weight loss medication outside regulated healthcare settings to report the matter to police”.

The pharmacy said that “demand is being influenced by pricing pressures and misinformation online”, including factors such as “rising private prescription costs and restrictions around NHS eligibility”.

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To be prescribed weight loss medications at The Care Pharmacy patients are required to prove their weight, BMI and to provide “detailed medical questionnaires”.

The pharmacy also provides prescribing oversight, checks GP records and has monthly follow-up reviews with patients.

“Professional care matters”

Lakhi emphasised that “patients require suitability assessments, ongoing monitoring, education around side effects and long-term support”. 

“Professional care matters at every stage of treatment. If a provider is bypassing medical checks, they are bypassing patient safety,” he added.

It comes as Asda launched a “judgement-free” disposal scheme for counterfeit weight loss medicines in its pharmacies earlier this month.

Read more: Online pharmacies named in weight loss jab investigation

And it follows a survey this month which showed 60% of people are worried about counterfeit drugs that received “responses from 5,000 people across the UK, the US, France and Germany”.