Publisher Health

For those with severe weight issues, semaglutide – the active ingredient in slimming drugs – can be a life-changer. Celebrity success stories have massively increased demand, but brought with it a booming black market for illegal and often life-threatening products. BBC Investigations has discovered how easy these are to buy.

“I just don’t like my body. I’m self-conscious about it.”

Vicky Boyd, from Newcastle, was looking forward to a holiday, but at the same time fighting severe insecurity.

“I went to hospital and they weighed me and I was 13 stone; that was big for me,” she said.

“It was stuck in my head constantly. I needed something. A quick fix.”

Mrs Boyd decided to buy semaglutide without a prescription, making the purchase from a “friend of a friend”.

“I just injected myself – literally one dose and I was fine – then I got home and started feeling sleepy.

“Around two in the morning I got up and I couldn’t stop being sick. My side and my back were hurting and I just felt like my body was totally shutting down.”

Initially she thought it would pass but, deep down, “I knew there was something seriously wrong”, she said.

“I went to the hospital. They said my body was riddled with toxins and my heart rate was 200-odd.

“They rushed me in and put me on a drip. They said I’d damaged my kidneys.”

Today, even after treatment, she says: “I’m not the same. It feels like it’s totally damaged me.

“People think it’s a quick fix but, trust me, it’s not.”

BBC Investigations spoke to several people who describe buying semaglutide – the active ingredient in the legal and licensed drugs Ozempic and Wegovy.

While Ozempic is intended for those with type 2 diabetes, Wegovy is prescribed specifically for weight loss.

One woman from Sunderland, who did not wish to be named, said she also bought semaglutide from a friend of a friend, but three hours after her first injection she started to feel sick.

She then became violently ill and unable to keep even water down for “30 hours”.

Suffering a very high heart rate, she attended A&E where the staff were “not shy” in telling her they were unimpressed with self-injecting.

The BBC had the substance she bought tested at the University of Sunderland, where senior lecturer Dr Stephen Childs said it did not contain any semaglutide.

Instead he found a small amount of insulin and other “unknown compounds”.

Dr Childs said anyone who took insulin without needing to could experience health problems.

A second woman from Newcastle, who bought semaglutide from a beauty salon, also became ill after her first dose.

She was rushed by ambulance to the RVI Hospital with symptoms including numbness, a heart rate that was “through the roof” and extreme vomiting.

The BBC bought semaglutide from the same salon, which we are not identifying as it is only one of hundreds of illegal sellers across the country.

The sale was arranged over Facebook and collected at a property in the Newcastle area.

The kit cost £100 for a four-week course and came with needles, a liquid that was being kept in a domestic fridge, syringes, alcohol wipes and the semaglutide in white powder form.

Our investigator was asked if they had diabetes or any history of thyroid cancer, then told how much to inject and where.

Asked if there were any side effects, the seller said some people had experienced nausea or dizziness.

Our reporter was told to join a Facebook group for more help, but no advice was given on how to store the medicines.

The University of Sunderland tested the powder and found it was semaglutide, which is illegal to sell without approval.

In response, the salon owner told us they had not been aware they were breaking the law and would stop selling the injections.

Dr Paul Evans, a Gateshead GP, says Wegovy is available on prescription on the NHS, but currently not in the North East and North Cumbria.

“Every time it comes up in the news we get a spike in patients asking about it and every time we have to say ‘I’m sorry we can’t prescribe that at the moment’.

“There’s not really a commissioning service for this in the North East at the moment. It’s also not available because of supply issues.”

Oksana Pyzik, a professor at UCL School of Pharmacy and member of the campaign group Fight the Fakes, said: “I think there is a level of casualness about Ozempic that we don’t see with other prescription medications.

“People can collapse, have seizures and, if they don’t get medical attention, organ failure and prolonged damage.

“The law needs to be updated and we also need to hold social media companies accountable.”

But, she said, more education is required, adding: “You’re really gambling with your own life by buying a medicine from social media.

“It is just not worth losing your life to lose weight.”

• If you have been affected by this report, help and support are available at BBC Action Line.

A spokesperson for Meta, which owns Facebook, said: “We don’t allow the sale of prescription drugs on Facebook and have removed the violating content.”

They said Meta continued “to invest resources and further improve our enforcement”, but similar content continues to be posted on Facebook and other social media platforms.

The Department of Health said: “The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) continuously works to identify those unlawfully trading in medicines and will use its powers to take appropriate enforcement action.”

Dr Alison Cave, the MHRA’s chief safety officer, said: “Buying prescription-only medicines without a prescription from illegally trading suppliers significantly increases the risk of receiving something which is either fake or not licensed for use in the UK.

“Instead, please report it to us, so that we can investigate and take any necessary action.”

Meanwhile, Vicky Boyd’s husband Peter said anyone considering buying semaglutide on the street or online should think twice.

He detailed his wife’s experience on Facebook in a post which was shared more than 13,000 times and prompted others to reveal their stories.

“We were lucky,” he said. “Vicky was lucky.

“The next person who does it might not be.”

Additional reporting by Calum Grewar.