Second illicit weight-loss pen site found in Lincolnshire

On 25 February 2026 the MHRA announced that it had disrupted a second site suspected of manufacturing illegal weight-loss medicines: a farm near Sleaford in Lincolnshire, with a linked house in Grantham. Nearly 2,000 doses of unauthorised products, including retatrutide and tirzepatide, were seized.^[1]

What was announced

Officers from four agencies went into the two Lincolnshire properties together. Lincolnshire Police described the operation as a significant disruption to an organised crime group producing unlicensed weight-loss medication.^[2] The MHRA's account lists what was found: close to 2,000 doses of unauthorised weight-loss medicines, the equipment used to make them, raw ingredients, and vehicles.^[1]

As at Northampton, the products were labelled as retatrutide and tirzepatide. The MHRA presented the two sites as connected, and the Lincolnshire raid as the next stage of the same investigation rather than a separate discovery.

The 2025 totals

The Lincolnshire raid came four weeks after the MHRA published its enforcement figures for 2025. Across the year it seized nearly 20 million doses of illegal medicines with a street value of about £45 million. The largest categories were sedatives (9.9 million doses), erectile dysfunction medicines (4.4 million) and painkillers (4.1 million), then 427,300 doses of nervous-system agents and 5,680 GLP-1 weight-loss pens. It also had more than 1,500 websites and social-media accounts disabled and more than 1,200 posts removed.^[3]

Weight-loss pens were a small share by volume. What made them a priority was that they are injected, and that they were being made in the UK. See the MHRA enforcement page for the full record.

What is new

The first raid showed that illegal pens were being made in the UK. The second showed that it was not a one-off: the same network had more than one site, and enforcement had moved from a warehouse to a farm and a private house. It also showed that the products were still reaching people months after the first factory was closed. The MHRA has been clear that products sold in the UK claiming to contain retatrutide are likely to be illegal and potentially dangerous.^[1]

What it does not mean

• It does not mean the supply has stopped. Three months later the MHRA made an even larger seizure near Northampton, of about 12,000 doses.^[4]
• It does not tell you what was in the doses. A raid announcement lists what was seized, not laboratory results. Independent testing of products sold as retatrutide is collected on the what is in the vials page.
• It does not mean anyone who bought a pen is being pursued. The offences are making, selling and supplying. Possession is not one of them. See is it legal in the UK?