Fat jab users will go to dodgy online sellers if Mounjaro rollout is botched by NHS, drug bosses warn
Just eight of 42 health service boards offer the weight-loss injection after a launch in June, stats show.
Under current plans it will take 12 years for all the 3.4 million eligible people to get it.
Dr Emily Pegg of Lilly, which makes Mounjaro, told The Sun: 'We worry more people will be forced to seek it from potentially illegitimate and dangerous sources.'
Dr Pegg warned social media sellers and dodgy online pharmacies posed a threat.
She said: 'This is a prescription-only medication that comes with many rules and regulations.
"A lot of people who are buying illicit medicines may not realise the potential danger.'
Mounjaro is available on the NHS only to the most obese patients.
More than 1.5 million Britons are thought to be taking weight-loss drugs, mostly on private prescription.
Henry Gregg, from the National Pharmacy Association, said the NHS rollout was proceeding very slowly.
He added: 'There are concerning reports of clinically ineligible patients trying to source medication from unregulated sources.
'This could pose a serious risk to a patients' health.'
I've lost nearly 6 stone in 9 months on fat jabs - trolls call me 'lazy' & say it's the 'easy way out' but I don't care
A Department of Health spokesman said: 'We expect NHS boards to be making these drugs available.
"We are determined to bring revolutionary modern treatments to everyone who needs them.'
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