What’s behind surge in fake weight-loss drugs and bogus steroids
The scale of the fake medicines in Ireland has been made worryingly clear with the latest figures from the State’s drugs watchdog.
The Health Products Regulatory Authority (HPRA) seized more than 750,000 units of illegal and fake medicines over the course of 2025.
As has been in the case in previous years, anabolic steroids top the list of fake imported drugs, with erectile dysfunction medication next.
But what has alarmed the watchdog is the 180 per cent rise in individual consignments year on year – people going online and ordering these bogus products – with a “significant proportion”…
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