As part of the crackdown on criminal profits, more than 17 million doses of illegally traded medicines, with a potential street value of more than £40 million, were taken out of circulation last year by the MHRA and its law enforcement partners. These included painkillers, sleeping tablets and erectile dysfunction treatments.
Andy Morling, who heads the MHRA’s Criminal Enforcement Unit (CEU), said
Criminals are in the illegal medicines trade for one reason only, to make money. By seizing their profits, we’re removing that single motivation. Whether held in Bitcoin or banknotes, we can take these criminal profits out of the hands of offenders. We can also use some of the money to strengthen our enforcement efforts against them. It’s a win for the safety of the public, and a serious blow for organised crime.
Following the money
The MHRA’s CEU leads efforts to disrupt medicine crime by denying criminals the profits that fuel it. Using its legislative powers, the CEU can freeze bank accounts, intercept digital currencies, seize luxury goods and confiscate the proceeds of crime following conviction. During 2024, the CEU’s financial investigators denied these criminals access to a total of £7.5 million in criminal assets.
Protecting the public from illegally traded medicines
The CEU deployed teams to work in partnership with the Home Office’s Border Force at ports across the UK to identify and seize medicines illegally entering the UK.
Most of the seized medicines are not licensed for sale in the UK, so can contain too much or too little of the declared active ingredient and may also contain other ingredients that are not approved for use.
The CEU also continued to target those individuals and networks illegally trading in medicines online, disrupting more than 1,500 websites and posts on social media accounts selling medicinal products illegally.
Andy Morling said
Buying from unverified sources risks your health, as there is no guarantee that the products are safe or effective.
We work tirelessly to protect patients by preventing medicines crime, disrupting it, and bringing offenders to justice. We do this by working with partners to remove illegally traded medicines from circulation, deny the criminal networks the proceeds of their crimes and disrupt online criminality.
Where appropriate we will also use the full range of our powers to bring offenders before the courts. These actions help ensure the public can trust the medicines they rely on every day.
Minister of State for Health, Karin Smyth, said
Shameful criminals selling unregulated and illegal medicines must feel the full force of the law.
We are cracking down on these rogue retailers, taking illicit medicines off the streets, and keeping the public safe.
The MHRA will use the funds made through this to strengthen future action against criminals.
Notes to editors
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The 17 million doses seized include 5.5 million doses of erectile dysfunction medicines, 5.5 million doses of pain treatments, 2.8 million doses of sedatives, 1.6 million doses of sleep disorder treatments, and 1.9 million doses of other medicines.
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Anyone who suspects they are having a side effect from a medicine are encouraged to talk to their doctor, pharmacist or nurse and report it directly to the MHRA Yellow Card scheme, either through the Yellow Card website or by searching the Google Play or Apple App stores for MHRA Yellow Card.
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The MHRA’s Accredited Financial Investigators are authorised by the National Crime Agency under the Proceeds of Crime Act 2002 (POCA). They support investigations by tracing, freezing, and confiscating assets linked to crime, including money laundering and the illegal supply of medicines. Their work includes seizing cash, valuable items, and freezing bank accounts or cryptocurrency suspected of criminal origins. The Home Office’s Asset Recovery Incentivisation Scheme (ARIS) allows a proportion of the proceeds of crime recovered under POCA, to be redistributed to agencies involved in the asset recovery process. The Home Office encourages agencies to invest ARIS funds to drive up performance on asset recovery or, where appropriate, to fund local crime fighting priorities for the benefit of the community.
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The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is responsible for regulating all medicines and medical devices in the UK by ensuring they work and are acceptably safe. All our work is underpinned by robust and fact-based judgements to ensure that the benefits justify any risks.
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The MHRA is an executive agency of the Department of Health and Social Care.
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