38 Attorneys General Urge FDA to Offer Protection From Fake Weight Loss Drugs

The counterfeits pose a risk of ‘serious side effects’ to users, potentially leading to hospitalization, the attorneys general warned.

Boxes of the diabetes drug Ozempic rest on a pharmacy counter in Los Angeles on April 17, 2023. Mario Tama/Getty Images

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) must act to protect Americans from fake versions of GLP-1 weight loss and diabetes drugs such as Ozempic and Mounjaro and take “decisive action” against bad actors engaged in such trade, a letter from a bipartisan coalition of attorneys general from 38 U.S. states said.

“My fellow attorneys general and I are urging the FDA to protect consumers from the growing threat posed by adulterated or counterfeit versions of these drugs,” California Attorney General Rob Bonta, a signatory of the letter, said in a Feb. 20 statement.