NASHVILLE—Tennessee Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti this week led a 38-state and territory bipartisan coalition requesting that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) take swift action against bad actors who are endangering consumers with counterfeit and unsafe forms of the weight loss and diabetes drugs Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, and Zepbound (GLP-1 drugs).
“Millions of Americans rely on GLP-1 drugs to improve their health, but bad actors are peddling dangerous fakes,” said Attorney General Jonathan Skrmetti. “These counterfeit or copycat drugs can be contaminated through shady supply chains running from China, Turkey, and other overseas suppliers, or they can contain entirely different drugs manufactured and packaged to look like GLP-1 drugs. We are asking the FDA to lead efforts to safeguard our American supply chain and to work with other federal and state agencies to stop bad actors from producing counterfeit drugs.”
Sky-high demand for GLP-1 medications, plus a high price tag and tight supplies, has created opportunities for bad actors to take advantage of consumers by manufacturing and selling counterfeit, untested products that may risk consumers’ safety. And counterfeit versions pose not only a risk to public health but also to our national security. There are reports that counterfeit GLP-1 drugs from India, Turkey, China, and other foreign sources have infiltrated the U.S. supply chain.
The Food and Drug Administration has the expertise and resources to investigate and halt unlawful conduct and deceptive practices by counterfeit drug manufacturers, online retailers, and compounding pharmacies that are illegally participating in the GLP-1 market. The letter urges the FDA to increase enforcement actions against these bad actors and encourages it to partner with state pharmacy boards to ensure compounded GLP-1 drugs are produced safely and in sanitary environments.
Tennessee co-led this bipartisan letter with South Carolina, Colorado, and Illinois. It was joined by the attorneys general of Alaska, Arkansas, California, Connecticut, Delaware, the District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Virgin Islands, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
You can read the full letter here. https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/attorneygeneral/documents/pr/2025/2025-2-glp1-letter.pdf
You can read the Consumer Protection Division’s GLP-1 warning here. https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/attorneygeneral/documents/pr/2025/CPD_GLP1_Warning.pdf
