In Australia, patient tears oesophagus after taking counterfeit drug
Australia’s medicines regulator, the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA), has warned about the risks of unapproved weight-loss drugs after a patient was hospitalised with a torn oesophagus caused by severe uncontrollable vomiting. The person had taken a product they believed was retatrutide, an experimental weight-loss drug.
As The Guardian reports, retatrutide belongs to peptides — chains of amino acids that act as chemical messengers in the body. The peptides in retatrutide mimic hormones associated with feelings of hunger. The drug is not approved by the TGA or regulators in other countries and cannot legally be prescribed or sold in Australia.
The sample contained no retatrutide
The TGA obtained a sample of the product and found that it contained no retatrutide. Instead, it contained semaglutide, another peptide that also affects feelings of hunger.
The amount of semaglutide detected was approximately eight times higher than the levels found in approved products containing this substance that were assessed by the regulator. Unapproved products are advertised on social media and offered on the illegal market under the names retatrutide, Reta, R-10 or R-20; they are often sold in unlabelled vials.
More current news is available on the UA.News Telegram channel Telegram.
Risks of injectable products
TGA Chief Medical Adviser Robyn Langham said products sold online may be fake or counterfeit and may contain components that are hazardous to health. According to her, buyers cannot be sure of the composition, quantity and type of substance, the sterility of the drug, or the absence of contaminants and toxins.
Langham stressed that injectable products pose a particular danger: contaminated or non-sterile manufacturing can cause infections and harmful immune reactions, including anaphylaxis. Self-administering such drugs is also associated with the risk of incorrect dosing, unsafe injection technique and severe adverse reactions.
In June, Victoria’s health department also warned about products labelled retatrutide after reports of six cases of acute toxic liver injury. Earlier, Australia’s chief medical officer warned of serious side effects from using unapproved and non-prescribed peptides, including liver injury, inflammation and severe allergic reactions.
