The growing underground market from China selling Ozempic, Botox and other medical products
It is becoming increasingly more common for people to look for cheaper alternatives to medicine.
Across social media and encrypted messaging apps, a new, largely unregulated, and terrifying trade in medical products is quietly thriving.
Through online threads and group chats on platforms such as TikTok, Telegram and WhatsApp, individuals are sharing links to suppliers of prescription drugs purportedly based in China offering cheap access to substances like semaglutide (the active ingredient in Ozempic), botulinum toxin (commonly known as Botox), and other injectable compounds.
The appeal is largely economic. In traditional healthcare systems, access to weight-loss drugs or cosmetic injections involves consultations, prescriptions, and premiums that many makes acquiring them financially impossible. Not anymore.
This underground network, sometimes referred to informally by participants as the “peptide grey market,” has grown as patients and beauty enthusiasts find cheap solutions to high prices. One outlet reported that “through a gray-market peptide supplier, a user can get a year’s worth of Ozempic for about $100.” For comparison, a single month of Ozempic through a doctor can cost $1,000.
Ozempic Problems Nobody Talks About
— Deepta Nagpall (@DeeptaNagpal) January 16, 2026
Ozempic (semaglutide) does help with weight loss.
It reduces appetite, controls cravings, improves blood sugar, and supports fat loss.
But here’s what often gets missed ⬇️
1️⃣ Very low appetite
Eating too little for too long can lead to… pic.twitter.com/kH0y9m2qiy
Buyers often source what sellers call “research chemicals” or raw drug powders shipped in unlabelled vials, which they then mix and self-administer at home following tutorials found online.
One online group chat member likened these suppliers to shopping on Chinese discount marketplaces.
Tutorials and peer advice on self‑mixing, dosing and injection techniques circulate widely, normalising do‑it‑yourself use of substances that, in regulated settings, require clinical oversight from medical professionals.
Of course, health authorities are raising alarms. In the United States, regulators such as the Food and Drug Administration have issued warnings to illegal online sellers of unapproved GLP‑1 products after finding misbranded or unauthorised versions of semaglutide offered without valid applications.
In the United Kingdom, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) continues to warn the public against buying weight‑loss medicines online, highlighting clear risks such as contamination, incorrect dosing and dangerous side effects.
The biggest problem with drugs like Ozempic is you pretty much gotta take it for the rest of your life, or the weight will probably come right back.
— Steve · Millionaire Habits (@SteveOnSpeed) January 13, 2026
Big Pharma's got you exactly where they want you.
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“There’s anatomical risk, you may inject into the wrong tissue or near a vessel,” explained Dr. Adesola Oyewole of Lily Primary Care in Houston told the NY Post. “Products bought online may be contaminated or improperly stored, leading to infection, abscesses or sepsis. With lipolytics specifically, there’s also a risk of fat necrosis or permanent tissue damage.”
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