Side defect: a drug was found in the popular dietary supplement for weight loss "Molecule"

The highly addictive narcotic substance sibutramine, for the distribution of which criminal liability is threatened, was found in the popular weight loss drug "Molecule". This result was shown by a laboratory study — Izvestia conducted a control purchase and sent dietary supplements for examination. Taking a "Molecule" containing a dangerous substance leads to a number of serious side effects — arrhythmias, tachycardia, insomnia and panic attacks. Who sells the drug and how and why it is dangerous — in the Izvestia article.

Horse dose

Weight loss drugs "Molecule" and "Molecule plus", which became popular among teenagers thanks to videos on the TikTok social network, contain the narcotic substance sibutramine, Izvestia found out during its own investigation. The dietary supplement, which, according to the instructions, is herbal and contains only natural ingredients, has previously caused concern among users due to a variety of strange side effects such as dry mouth, palpitations, dilated pupils.

Izvestia conducted a control purchase and took the drug "Molecule plus" to the laboratory. Experts of the project of the international association "Anti-counterfeit" "Do not take risks. Check it out!" they found sibutramine in it, an anorexic amphetamine—type drug that creates a feeling of false satiety in humans and is used in medicine to treat obesity. Its sale without a prescription is strictly prohibited, however, in the "Molecule", which is freely sold on the Internet, it is contained in a "horse" dosage of 16.7 mg per capsule.

Sibutramine is included in the list of potent and toxic substances approved by the government, Alexander Nosenko, head of the Center for the Protection of Copyright Holders of the Anti-Counterfeit Association, reminded Izvestia.

"Sibutramine is also included in the national clinical guidelines for the treatment of obesity, and its use in therapeutic doses should be strictly supervised by a doctor," he said.

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According to the research protocol (Izvestia has it), there is no information about the manufacturer on the package, and all information about the composition is given in English. It says that "the drug consists of a balanced complex of natural ingredients," in particular, a "valuable natural fat burner" — Garcinia Cambogia extract — and some other plants. The fact that the drug contains sibutramine is not mentioned on the package.

Photo: IZVESTIA

The majority of medicines registered in Russia containing sibutramine have a dosage of this active substance from 10 to 15 mg in one capsule, the president of the Association of Organizations for the Examination of the Quality of Medicines and Other Products, the head of the project "Do not take risks. Check it out!" Sergey Zelenets.

—This dose was already considered the limit and was prescribed for a short time only in extreme cases — in the absence of an effect and good tolerability," the expert noted. "16.7 mg per capsule is an excess of even the maximum dose, which makes such a drug especially dangerous, especially for people with impaired cardiovascular system. The content of the potent substance sibutramine is allowed in a registered medicinal product. The "Molecule" capsules do not have such registration.

Photo: IZVESTIA

In total, nine medicines containing sibutramine, manufactured by both Russian companies and from Sweden, India and Cyprus, have been registered in the Russian state register. For selling them without a prescription, as well as any other drugs with this active substance, the seller faces criminal liability under art. 234 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation ("Illegal trafficking of potent or poisonous substances for the purpose of sale"), recalled Alexander Nosenko. The maximum penalty is up to three years in prison.

"The hysteria around the Molecule resembles a similar situation with Ozempik," he added. — But the difference is that Ozempika has an official manufacturer, Novo Nordisk, while Molecule does not. This is a fake.

Where did the pills come from

"Molecule" is far from the first dangerous weight loss drug on the Russian market that contains illegal narcotic and psychotropic substances. Back in January 2024, Izvestia conducted an investigation, during which dietary supplements with sibutramine were found on the market. Then it was "Magic Beans. Weight loss capsules" and a number of other Chinese supplements.

It is easy to find sellers selling the "Molecule" on the Internet. Daria's seller, whom the publication contacted on social media, agreed to sell 30 capsules of "Molecules" for 2.4 thousand rubles (40 capsules cost 2.6 thousand rubles). The sale took place right on the street, next to the Moscow Riviera shopping center, and it was this sample that Izvestia submitted for examination.

Daria said that her "Molecule" is "completely original," as she has been taking it for several years from a "trusted supplier," who, in turn, buys the drug somewhere "on the border with China and Kyrgyzstan." According to the woman, she initially took the "Molecule" for herself, because she gained a lot on hormone therapy — from 60 kg she gained 140 kg.

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Taking such medications disrupts the digestive tract and can lead to heart problems, experts said.

Handing the package of the "Molecule" to the correspondent, the seller assured that after the first pill "you should want to eat less," and after three days "the volumes will start to go away, and after ten days the clothes will already be hanging." In confirmation, she showed her photos — they really show the difference in volume.

Daria's salesman shows his photos

Photo: IZVESTIA

"I'm the one who's recovered from stress again, and I was a size 42," Daria said.

She added several other Chinese weight loss pills as a gift for the purchase, but warned that they "may cause tremors." The Chinese "Molecule" that she sells, in her words, is completely harmless to health, unlike its Russian counterparts, which are allegedly made in the Moscow region and sold on the Internet for 500-1300 rubles.

"They say they make you shake really hard, you can't sleep, and something else," she said. "I think it's a fake."

What the consumers said

Arina Osipova, a Russian woman living in Tashkent, was not just "shaking" from the "Molecule" — her condition was such that she "wanted to climb the wall," she told Izvestia.

— Since childhood, I have had a desire for an ideal body, and I have had an eating disorder for a long time, — said the girl. — That's why I decided to try the "Molecule", I saw the videos on TikTok.

According to Arina, the strangeness began from the very first days of reception, dry mouth, nervous excitement and insomnia appeared.

— At first, I slept for five hours, although I took not two, as in the instructions, but one capsule, — said the girl. — I drank melatonin to sleep. I had a terrible appetite: I didn't want to eat at all, just drink. I ate once every two days.

On the third week of admission, the condition worsened — hands and feet began to freeze violently, apathy, anxiety, tantrums and obsessive thoughts appeared. And the pulse rate went through the roof every day for 100-110 beats per minute. At the end of the first month, the weight "got up", and Arina began to drink two pills a day. It ended with a terrible panic attack and bluish limbs (Izvestia has a photo).

Photo: IZVESTIA

"One day I woke up shaking, and my parents grabbed me by the arms and took me to the doctors," Arina recalls. — They diagnosed an arrhythmia and a high risk of thromboembolism. The course of "Molecules" was designed for two months, I drank one. It turns out that she stopped in time.

After the pills were discontinued, the symptoms did not disappear for another two weeks. Within a month of taking the "Molecule," Arina lost 11 kg, of which three have already returned to her — her body, depleted of sibutramine, is now, according to her, "very hungry."

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The Muscovite Polina K. (name changed) told Izvestia that her 15-year-old daughter was admitted to the intensive care unit after taking several "Molecule" pills.

"She was given an IV drip and gastric lavage in intensive care, after which she was transferred to a children's hospital," the woman said. — I didn't know that she was taking these pills, but I saw that she had lost a lot of weight.

After the scandal, online platforms hid the "Molecule" from the showcase, but sellers found a way out - they began to create temporary cards of other goods and sell the same drug under their guise, Ekaterina Mizulina, head of the Safe Internet League, wrote in her Telegram channel.

"For example, they hide under the guise of selling an ultraviolet lamp for terrariums. The current link to purchase drugs is distributed on Telegram and TikTok among teenagers," she said.

Selling one product under the guise of another is not a new technique, Alexander Nosenko noted.

— If the buyer knows what he is taking and there is a specific article, he puts it online to order according to it, — he noted. — It works like clockwork.

In early April, Ekaterina Mizulina appealed to Rospotrebnadzor with a request to check the "Molecule" for the presence of prohibited substances in it. Izvestia asked the agency about the interim results of this audit.