
AI-generated summary
GLP-1 series obesity treatment drugs are prescription drugs that must comply with the prescribed dosage and usage according to a doctor's prescription and pharmacist's medication guidance, and are drugs that require cold chain maintenance.
Blocking posts selling and introducing illegal obesity treatments online
(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Shin Seon-mi = The authorities have uncovered a number of cases of illegally selling or attempting to sell obesity treatments such as Maunjaro and Wegobi on second-hand trading platforms or online shopping malls.
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety announced on the 6th that it detected 949 posts in violation of the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act as a result of inspecting illegal online sales, brokerage, and advertising of glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) type obesity treatment drugs this year.
The Ministry of Food and Drug Safety requested that the Broadcasting Media and Communications Standards Commission block access to each post.
Looking at the cases detected by type, online sales and online posts introducing sales sites accounted for the most with 716 cases (75.4%).
Introduction of sales sites through cafes, blogs, etc. followed with 129 cases (13.6%).
In addition, there are 72 (7.6%) posts about one-to-one chat accounts through social networking services (SNS), and 32 (3.4%) are second-hand transactions between individuals.
Since the GLP-1 series of obesity treatment drugs are prescription drugs that must be administered in accordance with the prescribed dosage and usage according to the pharmacist's medication instructions after a doctor's prescription, they should not be distributed or purchased through online overseas direct sales or individual sales.
Additionally, this treatment is a medicine that must be maintained in a cold chain (refrigerated/frozen storage), and may deteriorate if the appropriate temperature is not maintained during the process of bringing it from overseas to Korea.
An official from the Ministry of Food and Drug Safety said, "In particular, products purchased directly from overseas are not approved in Korea, so their safety and effectiveness have not been sufficiently verified, and the manufacturing and distribution process has not been confirmed, so there is a risk of them being counterfeit or substandard drugs."
He added, “Even if damage occurs during use, it is difficult to receive legal protection such as recovery or compensation.”

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