How the hunger for a new weight loss drug is feeding an industry of fakes

Excitement around the creation of a new drug, especially one showing early promise in clinical trials, is often celebrated by those developing it.

But new weight-loss drug retatrutide has become a headache not only for Eli Lilly, the pharmaceutical company behind it, but for regulators in the UK and around the world.

The jab has not yet been approved for human use by any regulatory body.

But illicit, counterfeit dupes of retatrutide are currently flooding the black market.

Experts have told the BBC this is one of the first times they have seen copycat versions of an experimental drug, still in the throes of being tested, become so widely available.

Vials purporting to be "reta" as it's become known, are being sold in the UK in gyms, nail and beauty salons, hairdressers, on social media and even by flower sellers on the street.

"The world has gone mad," pharmacist and director of 24 HR Pharmacy, Sehar Shahid says. "People are effectively injecting an illegal drug and thinking it's safe.

"It's become so normalised people openly talk about their dealers, where's best to get it from and post all over social media."