MHRA fake Mounjaro alert: what the batch warning actually means

What did @my.journey.with.marc actually say?

Mark claims the MHRA issued a warning on 24 February about counterfeit Mounjaro (tirzepatide) 15mg KwikPens dispensed from a private pharmacy clinic in Birmingham. He names the affected batch number as "D87 35 76" and says it matches a batch number for genuine 7.5mg pens. He advises anyone holding a 15mg pen with that batch number to stop using it, email the MHRA, and store it safely. He also flags that testing confirmed the pens do contain tirzepatide, but that sterility cannot be guaranteed because manufacturing conditions are unknown. His core safety message is: use a GPHC-registered pharmacy.

To his credit, he is not selling anything in this specific video. He is passing on a regulatory alert, listing signs of possible infection and allergic reaction, and pointing people toward official channels. That is broadly the right instinct for a patient creator with a large following.

Does the science back this up?

Yes, broadly. The MHRA alert is real, and the risks he describes are medically sound. Unverified injectable products with unknown manufacturing conditions carry genuine infection and contamination risks. This is not hypothetical.

The MHRA did publish a safety alert in February 2025 regarding counterfeit Mounjaro 15mg KwikPens linked to a Birmingham-based private clinic. The alert confirmed that laboratory testing found the pens contained tirzepatide, but that sterility could not be verified. Counterfeit injectable medicines are a documented public health problem. A 2023 WHO report on falsified medical products noted that injectable counterfeits are among the highest-risk categories precisely because of sterility concerns. The signs of injection-site infection Mark lists, including redness, swelling, warmth, and fever, are clinically consistent with what you would expect from a non-sterile injectable product. His mention of allergic reactions including difficulty breathing is also appropriate, given that tirzepatide itself carries a labelled risk of hypersensitivity reactions regardless of source.

What did they get right and wrong?

Mark gets the substance largely right, but the delivery has real problems. The batch number as he states it verbally is garbled. He says "Deafordelta 87 35 76" which appears to be a phonetic misread of a batch code. The actual MHRA alert references a specific alphanumeric batch number, and if viewers try to match what he said to what is printed on a pen, they may get confused or, worse, conclude their pen is fine when it is not.

He also says the issue was identified because "dose knobs were actually coming off." The MHRA alert does reference physical defects as a trigger for investigation, so this is not fabricated, but presenting a mechanical defect as the primary identification method underplays the broader supply chain failure involved.

• What he got right: the MHRA alert is real, the batch is associated with a Birmingham clinic, testing confirmed tirzepatide content but not sterility, and his advice to contact the MHRA directly is correct.
• What he got wrong: the batch number is not clearly communicated, which is the single most important piece of information in the entire video.
• What is missing: he does not tell viewers where to find the original MHRA alert themselves, which should have been the first thing he said.

What should you actually know?

If you are using a Mounjaro 15mg KwikPen sourced privately in the UK, the practical steps are straightforward and do not require watching a TikTok to complete them. Go directly to gov.uk and search "MHRA Mounjaro alert" to find the original notice with the exact batch number printed clearly. Do not rely on a verbally recited batch code from any video, including this one.

The MHRA's email for reporting is info@mhra.gov.uk with the subject line "Mounjaro pens" as Mark correctly states. If you have symptoms of injection-site infection or any allergic reaction, seek medical attention promptly. Do not wait to finish the pen or see if symptoms resolve.

The broader point Mark makes about GPHC-registered pharmacies is sound. The General Pharmaceutical Council maintains a public register at pharmacyregulation.org. Any legitimate UK online pharmacy dispensing prescription-only medicines like tirzepatide must appear on that register. If your supplier is not listed, that is a serious warning sign, not a minor inconvenience.

The bottom line

This video is well-intentioned and the core alert is real. But a video about a safety recall where the single most safety-critical detail, the batch number, is delivered unclearly is a problem. Mark should have shown the printed MHRA document on screen. He should have linked to it directly. At 28,000 views, even a small percentage of confused viewers is too many. Patient creators have a responsibility that scales with their audience. Getting the spirit right is not enough when the specifics matter this much.