Fake Mounjaro racket busted on Delhi outskirts; Haryana drug officials arrest two, seize 260+ counterfeit pens

Haryana's Food and Drug Control Administration busted an unlicensed operation manufacturing fake versions of Eli Lilly's obesity and diabetes drug Mounjaro, arresting two individuals and seizing over 260 suspected counterfeit injection pens from a vehicle intercepted in Gurugram on Saturday.

The accused, who lacked any pharmaceutical licence, were running the operation out of a private property. Officials recovered not just the fake pens but also large quantities of raw materials and locally printed Mounjaro packaging labels — pointing to a well-organised, if crude, counterfeiting setup. The seized materials were valued at approximately ₹70 lakh, according to a Reuters report, quoting Drug Control Officer Amandeep Chauhan.

Chinese supply chain

What makes the case particularly alarming is how brazenly the supply chain was assembled. According to the report, peptides used in the fake drugs were sourced from vendors on Chinese e-commerce platform Alibaba. The finished counterfeits were then allegedly listed on IndiaMART — one of the country's largest B2B online marketplaces — at a 27% discount to the genuine drug's price. Neither Alibaba nor IndiaMART had responded to requests for comment at the time of writing.

Lilly responds

Eli Lilly and Company (India) confirmed it had been made aware of the seizure. In a statement to Fortune India, a company spokesperson said: "We have been made aware of a recent development in relation to the seizure of suspicious and counterfeit products that allegedly carry our product brand name Mounjaro (Tirzepatide). Lilly takes patient safety extremely seriously and welcomes the regulatory authority's action against illicit medicines. We are actively supporting the investigation and will continue to work with regulatory and law enforcement authorities worldwide to protect patients from the risks of counterfeit products. Stronger, coordinated enforcement must be sustained if we are to protect patients from unsafe fake medicines."

Why Mounjaro is a prime target

The timing is hardly surprising. Mounjaro was launched in India in 2025 and has since become the country's top-selling drug by value. The appetite — quite literally — for weight-loss drugs has exploded, and India's obesity drug market is projected to touch ₹8,000 crore by 2030.