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A security firm claims to have identified a “pattern of fraud” involving the “misuse of prescribing systems” and paper prescription forms to divert Mounjaro and other weight loss drugs from the legitimate supply chain.

In a statement last week, TIAA UK said it was aware of cases that have involved a “significant financial loss to the NHS”.

One investigation unearthed around 70 falsified FP10 prescription forms for GLP-1s with an estimated value of £30,000, with a GP practice employee implicated in the fraudulent activity.

The company said fraudsters commonly abuse their position as clinical or administrative staff to gain unauthorised access to patient records to identify those who have been prescribed a GLP-1 medicine, for example to treat diabetes.

False prescription entries are made and a medicine such as Mounjaro added “temporarily” to the patient record, and a paper FP10 prescription is then generated to allow for “manual handling and a potential forged GP signature”.

The behaviour is concealed by deleting the medication entry from the patient record “to reduce audit visibility,” said TIAA.

TIAA said FP10 paper forms are relied on as they do not require the same level of authentication and secondary checking as electronic prescriptions, and because if the “ease of forgery” of GP signatures.

TIAA commented: “These medications now carry significant illicit market value, driven by demand for weight loss treatment.

“Access via NHS prescribing routes is restricted, whilst private purchase can be costly, increasing the incentive for fraudulent activity”.

The company recommended “robust auditing, reduced reliance on paper prescribing and vigilance across staff access” as measures that are “critical to fraud prevention,” as well as monitoring “inappropriate or excessive access patterns”.

It also recommended the reinforcement of “strict controls” around FP10 pads, limiting access to prescription stationery, carrying out regular stock checks and briefing staff on the “professional and legal consequences” of prescription fraud.