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India’s Weight-Loss Drug Boom Fuels Fake Mounjaro Market
India’s growing demand for weight-loss medicines has created a market for cheaper products.
Some sellers are offering fake versions of Mounjaro through online platforms and messaging apps.
Officials in Haryana found counterfeit Mounjaro products in Gurugram.
The products included pens, syringes, labels and packaging designed to look genuine.
Tests found that some doses had very little of the active ingredient they claimed to contain.
India is also seeing many generic semaglutide products after the relevant patent expired.
Another drug, retatrutide, is being offered even though it is still being tested.
Eli Lilly says retatrutide cannot legally be sold for people because no regulator has approved it.
A Haryana investigation uncovered counterfeit Mounjaro pens and related packaging in a Gurugram apartment.
Businessman Avi Sharma was arrested in April after authorities traced a discounted Mounjaro sale.
Testing found some seized doses contained 30% or less of their labelled tirzepatide concentration.
India’s informal channels are also offering generic semaglutide products and unapproved retatrutide.
Retatrutide remains investigational and has not been approved for human sale by any regulator.
- Who
- Haryana drug control officer Amandeep Chauhan, businessman Avi Sharma, Eli Lilly, counterfeiters and unofficial medicine distributors.
- What
- Authorities uncovered counterfeit Mounjaro and reports of unauthorized semaglutide and retatrutide products being sold in India.
- Where
- Gurugram, Haryana, and online and informal sales channels across India, including reported approaches in Mumbai.
- When
- The Gurugram operation led to Avi Sharma’s arrest in April; the articles do not specify the year.
- Why
- High prices for branded weight-loss medicines are driving demand for cheaper alternatives, while informal channels and pharmaceutical supply access create opportunities for counterfeiters.
Key facts
- Medicine involved
- Mounjaro, Eli Lilly’s tirzepatide-based weight-loss medicine
- Usual monthly retail price
- ₹13,125, according to the report
- Discount observed
- A Mounjaro listing on IndiaMART was advertised at about 20% below the usual retail price
- Gurugram seizure
- Investigators found injector pens, syringes, labels, packaging and peptide vials
- Test results
- Several seized doses contained 30% or less of the labelled tirzepatide concentration
- Generic market
- Nearly three dozen generic semaglutide brands have entered India’s market
- Retatrutide status
- The drug is still under clinical development and has not been approved for sale by any regulator
Quotes
Eli Lilly
Pharmaceutical company that developed Mounjaro and retatrutide
“Retatrutide is an investigational medicine, available in Lilly's clinical trials, and has not been approved by any regulator anywhere in the world. No one can legally sell it for human use.”
livemint.com
Sources
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