An English pharmacy is being accused of providing trans people with female hormones without carrying out required consultations or age checks.

The allegations against AssetChemist.co.uk, an online pharmacy based in Tilbury, arose after an unnamed reporter at British newspaper the Independent could order progynova without any checks.

All the reporter had to do to get the prescription mailed to them was fill in an online form to buy 84 two-miligram tablets, which cost £6.

They were reportedly asked to provide evidence of a previous prescription, but despite never providing one, the tablets still arrived a couple of weeks later.

The reporter was also not asked which condition the medication was used to treat, or whether they had any pre-existing health conditions.

The active ingredient in progynova, which is commonly used in hormone replacement therapy, is estradiol valerate, a naturally occuring form of estrogen.

If taken unmonitored and in larger doses than normally prescribed, it can cause high blood pressure, depression, anxiety or mood changes and blood clots, which can lead to strokes, heart attacks and pulmonary embolisms.

It should also not be taken by people who have angina pectoris, an active liver disease or live with a number of blood disorders causing clots.

All these side effects can also occur in cis women (or trans men) taking the pill as a contraceptive.

Following the Independent’s research, AssetChemist.co.uk is now under investigation from the General Medical Council (GMC) and the Care Quality Commission (CQC).

When contacted by Gay Star News, the CQC was not immediately available for comment or confirmation, but said they will come back as soon as possible.

Speaking to the Independent, Susan Goldsmith, Chief Operating Office of the GMC, said: ‘Our prescribing guidance makes it clear that doctors may prescribe only when they have adequate knowledge of the patient’s health, and are satisfied that the medicines serve the patient’s needs.’

In the UK, it can take up to four years on a waiting list before trans people can start their transition under medical supervision; the average waiting time for a first appointment – which doesn’t automatically means starting the transition – is nine months.

Tran activist Jane Fae said the investigation would likely lead to a government crackdown, which would make treatments even less accessible than they already are.

‘The NHS is failing people, so of course they’re going elsewhere,’ she said.

‘If the NHS got its act together, it wouldn’t be happening.’

Trans activist Sarah Brown called the Independent’s investigation ‘deeply reckless’, saying it would put trans people at risk rather than help them.

’Some people simply cannot get these drugs via legitimate channels. Some doctors will not even prescribe them at all,’ she told Gay Star News.

‘It will either cause people to go to even more dodgy places or, and this is the more tragic result, people will just kill themselves.

‘If trans people come and don’t get medical help, there’s is a 50% they’ll try to kill themselves.’

According to Brown, progynova is less dangerous than the morning-after pill or even off-the-shelf painkillers and has made transitioning not just safer, but also reduced the side effects trans women experience.

‘This is the irony. They pick on the one drug that’s possibly the safest drug trans people have ever taken,’ she said.

‘And as a result, they’ll take less safe drugs, and they’ll get them from dodgier places.’

Trans women might also ask their cis friends for the birth control pill, which is far riskier than progynova.

She also said that, while trans people are under medical supervision when they first start transitioning, this often ceases when the processes is completed.

‘Transition lasts a few year,’ she said.

‘And then there’s the rest of your life, which is probably decades, and nobody monitors you.

‘The last time I had a blood test for my hormone levels was eight years ago.’

GSN has approached AssetChemist.co.uk for comment, but they were not immediately available. We will update this piece as soon as we receive a reply.