Companies selling illegal and unlicensed weight-loss drugs are exploiting positive Trustpilot reviews to appear legitimate, according to a Guardian investigation that has exposed significant regulatory gaps in online marketplaces.
False legitimacy through review manipulation
The investigation found multiple businesses operating in the UK that are selling unapproved weight-loss medications while accumulating high ratings on the global review platform. Retatrutide UK maintained a score of 4.4 out of 5 on Trustpilot despite offering a drug that is both unlicensed and illegal to sell or purchase in the United Kingdom.
This company was selling a 20mg retatrutide pen for £132, capitalising on the drug's experimental status and online buzz. One Trustpilot reviewer wrote: "So far so good. My pen arrived quickly and … First few pounds off and still feeling well with it. Would recommend."
Retatrutide is an experimental injection developed by US drugmaker Eli Lilly that targets three gut hormones: GLP-1, GIP and glucagon. Early studies suggest it could help patients lose up to a quarter of their body weight, leading to it being hailed online as the next Ozempic, though Ozempic itself is not licensed in the UK as a weight-loss treatment.
Serious health risks and regulatory failures
Buying retatrutide illegally carries substantial health risks. Because the drug remains experimental, products sold through unofficial channels are completely unregulated and may contain incorrect ingredients, wrong dosages, or fail to meet proper sterilisation standards.
Contaminated or incorrectly dosed injectable hormones can cause infections, dangerous blood sugar crashes, pancreatitis and cardiovascular side effects. Using unfinished clinical-trial drugs outside legitimate medical settings is considered both unsafe and potentially life-threatening.
Alluvi Health Care, the company at the centre of a recent Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) raid on an illicit manufacturing facility, also maintained a presence on Trustpilot. The company had a 3.5 rating with an AI-generated summary stating: "Customers are generally satisfied with the company's products, order processing and delivery service."
Platform response and expert concerns
Another seller operating under the name Retatide claimed to be "powered by retatrutide, a cutting-edge triple-action peptide formula" and told customers that "people are switching daily after stalling on Mounjaro or Tirzepatide". Its Trustpilot page showed a 4.6 rating with numerous five-star reviews.
Emily Rickard from the University of Bath, who researches the political economy of the pharmaceutical industry, stated: "In our research we consistently uncover advertising rule breaches across regulated online weight-loss services, exposing how weak the current safeguards are even surrounding officially approved products."
She added: "Against that backdrop, the prevalence of illegal sellers offering unlicensed drugs like retatrutide – and presenting themselves as legitimate via glowing Trustpilot reviews – is especially alarming and dangerous."
Piotr Ozieranski, a reader in sociology at Bath, called for stronger regulatory action: "The regulators should move towards starting investigations into suspected unethical practices proactively and use administrative fines linked to company turnover or market share. Currently, it feels that the worst that can happen is that a company gets a slap on the wrist."
Trustpilot has since taken action to block all businesses highlighted in the Guardian's investigation. A spokesperson explained that as an open review platform, "anyone can create a profile for a business and submit a review", but the company removes and blocks businesses that don't align with its ethical standards.
The spokesperson acknowledged that "bad actors are continuously evolving their tactics in an attempt to circumvent our detection" and confirmed they continue to investigate companies selling drug-related products while evolving processes to protect platform integrity.
An MHRA spokesperson stated: "Public safety is the number one priority for the MHRA, and its criminal enforcement unit works hard to prevent, detect and investigate illegal activity involving medicines and medical devices and takes robust enforcement action where necessary."
