TikTok influencers fuelling parallel market for unlicensed weight-loss drug

[StopCraving_12]

"Retatrutide, which is still in clinical trials, is being advertised by social media influencers for its supposed fat-burning effects. Followers are urged to message the accounts privately for supplier links, as well as being provided with discount codes."

TikTok influencers fuelling parallel market for unlicensed weight-loss drug

Guardian finds a thriving trade on Telegram for retatrutide, which is still in clinical trials and illegal to sell

www.theguardian.com

 

[vewdew34]

That is not new been going on for a long time. Its TikTok for you everyone strives that 5 minute fame.

 

[randompersonrandom]

I have a couple of "if, then never"'s for vendors. If they don't have a US warehouse, if they don't have shipping averages within one week, if they have ever squabbled with any of their customers in public, if they have ever said anything in a public forum that sounded arrogant, then I will never buy from them.

"if they are heavily discussed on TikTok or featured in any news article" is one of my "then I will never"'s.

 

[MadisonB]

Not a new thing, but still a thing that chaps every bit of my ever shrinking 🍑

 

[peptideusername]

I have a couple of "if, then never"'s for vendors. If they don't have a US warehouse, if they don't have shipping averages within one week, if they have ever squabbled with any of their customers in public, if they have ever said anything in a public forum that sounded arrogant, then I will never buy from them.

That is quite the list of requirements! I like to throw money at China and see what shows up three weeks later.

 

[randompersonrandom]

That is quite the list of requirements! I like to throw money at China and see what shows up three weeks later.

I'll get there eventually; it's still early days for me! 😀

 

[peptideusername]

I'll get there eventually; it's still early days for me! 😀

Fair point. Take your time and get comfortable. I appreciate that "will only accept credit cards" is missing from your list 😁

Once you have the crypto, the rest is just finding the right vendor and buying as a group. Find some likeminded people that are willing to share the reshipping work and leverage your group buying power to get better deals.

 

[lemon lady]

whenever I comment on a peptide based tictok i get tonnes of replys like "dm me for reta", "dm me for cheap peptides" .. dodgy af.. I'm mean more-so than what I do currently 😅

 

[Thistley]

This scaremongering article by the Guardian really annoyed me and it was sloppy researched and lazy written aswell. The writer could have found out a lot more about the whole process with just 20 mins of online research. There is a story here, but rather than write about pharma/ Eli pricing/ global supply chains/ the Lilly lawsuits, nhs eligibility vs need vs cost, nhs waiting lists, rather than cover a journey for someone it has worked for …. Too hard… to much like work. Reads like second hand gossip. It could have sparked discussion and much needed debate.

Reta is not a medicine. Not yet. No company is the world has had it approved yet as one. Nor is it a controlled drug or classified substance for the purposes of the misuse of drugs act ( 1971) . You can’t be prosecuted in uk for purchasing a non medicine under medicine act ( 1968) medicine regulation laws. It’s not a medicine- yet.

Feels like the writer had never heard of telegram and barely heard of tik tok and may have written this flimsy article while feeling haughty in thrifted Gucci and sipping kombucha in the London flat their papa bought them and wringing their hands in leftist moral panic.

Had I looked in to the writer I could have corrected that assumption. But I am not a journalist nor do I claim to be one, and they didn’t bother looking into this issue properly either. 11 mins in they would have found this forum…..

Had the journalists bought vials and had them tested and found zero peptides in them…. Well that’s a story. Had this cost NHS thousands in treating sick people after taking it, had they found a biohazard in a vial well sure that’s a public health story. That’s not this story. Ask yourself why.

But what if 🤔 they did have them tested and it was fine. They were never going to write that story were they? No one is writing about the people priced out of the market and the effect it had on them,for something it costs 7p to make, or those most in need who can’t get on it in the first place. Or how they put the price up in UK, it’s extortionate in US, but expanded into developing markets in India and south Africa much more modestly priced. Why? How?

But sure some people on tik tok & telegram 🙄