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Royal Malaysia Police officers stand guard at a checkpoint. The photo is unrelated to the article. /EPA-Yonhap

Illegal sellers in Malaysia are increasingly distributing unapproved weight-loss injections online, including products marketed as containing tirzepatide, the active ingredient in Mounjaro, amid growing demand for obesity treatments, the South China Morning Post (SCMP) reported Sunday.

Safety concerns are mounting as consumers unable to afford expensive prescription medications turn to cheaper products sold through social media and e-commerce platforms and administer the injections themselves. 

Malaysian Health Minister Dzulkefly Ahmad said authorities seized 341,000 ringgit (approximately 114.46 million won) worth of unapproved retatrutide products in 12 enforcement operations between January 2025 and September this year.

In seven separate operations, authorities also confiscated illegally sold Ozempic products worth 64,170 ringgit (approximately 21.53 million won). 

In April, the Malaysian Border Control and Protection Agency (MCBA) intercepted two attempts to smuggle pharmaceutical products through Terminals 1 and 2 of Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) on consecutive days, seizing a total of 12,140 injectable products.

The confiscated items included 3,300 units of Tirzade, believed to contain tirzepatide, and another 8,840 injectable products.

Some sellers have offered individual doses online for as little as 60 ringgit (approximately 20,000 won), significantly below market prices.

Other vendors are selling not only tirzepatide but also retatrutide, a next-generation injectable obesity treatment that has not yet received regulatory approval.

The growing illegal market appears to be driven by Malaysia's high obesity rate and the financial burden of prescription medications.

According to the 2023 National Health and Morbidity Survey published by the Institute for Public Health under Malaysia's Ministry of Health, 54.4% of Malaysian adults were classified as overweight or obese.

Although buyers may be able to check product batch numbers, laboratory test reports and online customer reviews, such information does not necessarily reveal which ingredients a product actually contains or in what quantities.

In September, Australia's Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) reported that a consumer who used a product labeled as retatrutide suffered severe vomiting and a torn esophagus, requiring hospital treatment.

Tests conducted by the regulator found no retatrutide in the product. Instead, they detected semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic, at a concentration approximately eight times higher than that found in approved prescription products. 

Sharifa Ezat Wan Puteh, a public health expert at the National University of Malaysia, warned that illegal sellers may have forged laboratory test reports and batch numbers for products sold online or copied the information from genuine products without authorization.

She advised consumers to seek medical advice and called for broader access to appropriate treatment through public healthcare facilities and insurance programs.

                                                                                                            Hong Seong-a