This text comprises references to consuming issues.
For Kansasin Darwan, dwelling in Bajool in central Queensland, the weight-loss injection was speculated to be an answer. As an alternative, she says, it left her barely capable of perform.
I used to be dizzy, nauseous, and I misplaced my urge for food. To place it merely, I may barely stay.
The 48-year-old says she had gained weight throughout perimenopause and believed her Australian GP was unlikely to prescribe a weight-management medication as a result of she didn’t meet the related medical standards.
In Australia, GLP-1 weight reduction medicine are usually prescribed for continual weight administration in adults with a physique mass index (BMI) of 30 or larger, or a BMI of 27 to underneath 30 with not less than one weight-related well being situation.
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So, whereas on vacation in her dwelling nation of Thailand, Darwan went to a magnificence clinic in outer Bangkok and acquired an injectable medication branded as Mounjaro.
Magnificence clinics in Thailand are usually supervised by docs. Nevertheless, the screening course of for GLP-1 use will be much less in depth than the evaluation usually performed by GPs in Australia. For instance, some clients at magnificence clinics could also be prescribed GLP-1 medicine even when they don’t have diabetes or are inside a wholesome weight vary.
Darwan introduced the medicine again to Australia and commenced utilizing them to shed pounds.
“I could not focus whereas driving. I wasn’t feeling like myself. I could not sleep. Even my kids seen that I used to be totally different,” she tells SBS Thai.
Eighteen out of each 1,000 Australians, or nearly 2 per cent of the inhabitants, at the moment are taking GLP-1s usually, in line with a examine by scientists on the College of New South Wales (UNSW) revealed in November 2025.
Darwan’s expertise gives a glimpse right into a fast-growing marketplace for weight-loss injections, the place some Australians are searching for entry abroad, whereas others are acquiring medicines by means of social-media sellers and casual provide channels.
An investigation by SBS Thai discovered weight-loss medicines being supplied with no physician’s prescription in Australian group teams, studies of merchandise coming into the nation by means of casual channels, and unapproved peptides being marketed as weight-loss merchandise.
However entry to those medicines will not be uniformly occurring exterior the established medical system. Many Australians get hold of weight-loss medicine by means of registered well being professionals and pharmacies.
For customers navigating this market, the excellence between an accredited prescription medication, an experimental drug and an unapproved product will be tough to see — with consultants and authorities warning that utilizing medicines exterior accredited pathways can carry severe dangers.
The unregulated provide chain
For some customers, entry doesn’t require a visit abroad.
SBS Thai discovered GLP-1 injectable medicines overtly marketed in Australian Thai group Fb teams, with some sellers providing the merchandise with out requiring a prescription.
We contacted one Melbourne-based vendor, posing as a possible buyer fascinated with shopping for “Mounjaro”. The vendor supplied a 5mg vial for $750, saying it had been sourced from a magnificence clinic in Udon Thani, a provincial metropolis in north-east Thailand.
We contacted the clinic recognized by the vendor, which confirmed that it equipped merchandise to the Melbourne-based vendor.
SBS Thai has not independently established the circumstances of each cargo or whether or not each product offered by means of the channel was imported in accordance with Australian necessities.
The worth for the 5mg multi-dose pre-filled injection pen additionally appeared considerably larger than the worth we discovered for a similar branded medication at Australian pharmacies, the place it was listed between $375 and $415 relying on the pharmacy and required a prescription.
The vendor’s declare of quick access raises vital regulatory and well being issues.
In response to an SBS Thai question, a Therapeutic Items Administration (TGA) spokesperson mentioned: “It isn’t authorized to import GLP-1 medicines or peptide merchandise into Australia for industrial functions with out acceptable authorisation and declaration.”
The spokesperson mentioned GLP-1 receptor agonists, together with semaglutide and tirzepatide, are prescription-only medicines in Australia and needs to be used underneath the supervision of a professional well being skilled.
The regulator has additionally warned about unregistered merchandise being offered as GLP-1 medicines, significantly these obtained on-line or from abroad.
In March, TGA testing discovered a number of imported merchandise labelled as containing GLP-1 or GLP-1 analogues contained none of these components. The regulator suggested customers to acquire prescription medicines from registered Australian pharmacies relatively than social media or different digital platforms.
The regulator has additionally elevated its deal with unapproved peptide merchandise.
Earlier this month, with help from NSW Police, the TGA seized greater than $120,000 value of unapproved peptide and anabolic steroid merchandise from two NSW properties. The TGA mentioned the merchandise had allegedly been imported, relabelled and promoted on the market by means of social media and an internet site.
One of many merchandise seized was labelled “retatrutide” — a reputation that additionally appeared in SBS Thai’s investigation.
We discovered retatrutide supplied at $300 for a 10mg vial at a Thai grocery retailer in Geelong, Victoria. The vendor claimed the injectable product may assist with weight reduction and work equally to different GLP-1 medicines.
Retatrutide is totally different from accredited GLP-1 medicines resembling Ozempic and Wegovy. Whereas these medicines comprise semaglutide, retatrutide is an experimental drug that acts on three hormone pathways concerned in urge for food and metabolism. It isn’t accredited on the market as a drugs in Australia.
SBS Thai didn’t independently take a look at the product or set up what was contained in the vial. The TGA says unapproved peptide merchandise haven’t been evaluated for security, high quality or effectiveness.
There may be additionally a separate well being warning involving merchandise labelled retatrutide.
In June, Victoria’s Division of Well being mentioned it had been notified of six circumstances of acute liver damage since January amongst individuals who had used merchandise labelled as retatrutide. The division mentioned investigations had been persevering with.
Demand is surging
The casual market is rising alongside a speedy enhance in reliable use of GLP-1 medicines.
Researchers at UNSW discovered that whole gross sales of GLP-1 medicines rose from about 58,000 in Might 2020 to 500,000 in April 2025. In addition they famous a big disruption in gross sales from late 2022 to early 2024, when a drug scarcity induced gross sales to drop by nearly 80 per cent.
The researchers discovered that personal, non-subsidised entry had grown sharply, accounting for 43.8 per cent of estimated use by April 2025, with costs as much as $600 monthly.
The examine didn’t embody Wegovy and Saxenda, that are marketed particularly for weight reduction. The researchers mentioned their figures ought to due to this fact be regarded at the least estimate of general GLP-1 use.
That increasing market can be being mentioned closely on social media.
Like Darwan, Ople Petchdee, who lives in Croydon South in Melbourne’s east, additionally purchased a GLP-1 injectable from a magnificence clinic simply exterior the Thai capital, Bangkok.
Petchdee, who has referred to as Australia dwelling for the previous 15 years, says she got interested within the medicines after seeing buddies publish about their experiences.
“Everybody posted on their Fb, on their social media, that these drugs helped them shed pounds. So, my buddies urged I take advantage of them, too,” she tells SBS Thai.
Past the weight-loss promise
For Trevor Steward, an affiliate professor of psychology on the College of Melbourne, the priority will not be solely how individuals get hold of GLP-1 medicines but in addition how the medicine are introduced and understood on-line.
Steward is at the moment working a medical trial inspecting how GLP-1 medicine have an effect on the neurobiological perform of individuals with binge consuming dysfunction.
It is not about aesthetics. It is not about reaching a sure quantity on a scale.
“It is about somebody’s psychological and bodily wellbeing. And that is one thing that must be thought-about holistically with a physician concerned,” Steward tells SBS Thai.
He says there are additionally unanswered questions on what occurs when remedy stops for individuals with consuming issues.
“If the burden comes again, we are able to possibly stipulate that the meals noise will come again. And the way will that individual address that, considering that they’ve achieved a sure sense of restoration after which falling again into that previous sample of behaviour earlier than.”
Steward says social media usually strips away that nuance, framing GLP-1 medicines as a shortcut to reaching a specific physique form or weight, relatively than treating them as severe drugs to be thought-about within the context of an individual’s general psychological and bodily well being.
For Darwan, who had gone on the lookout for a method to shed pounds, actuality was tougher.
“My temper was miserable. I suffered from power loss.”
I can’t use [GLP-1 drugs] once more.
This story was produced in collaboration with SBS Thai.
Readers searching for help with psychological well being can contact Past Blue on 1300 22 4636. Extra data is on the market at beyondblue.org.au. Embrace Multicultural Psychological Well being helps individuals from culturally and linguistically numerous backgrounds.
Readers searching for help for consuming issues or physique picture issues can name the Butterfly Nationwide Helpline on 1800 ED HOPE (1800 33 4673) or go to www.butterfly.org.au
Disclaimer: This text is for basic data solely and shouldn’t be relied on as an alternative choice to skilled medical recommendation. Readers are suggested to seek the advice of a professional well being skilled for steering particular to their state of affairs.
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