House Reps Urge FDA Action on Counterfeit Obesity Drugs

U.S. Representative Richard Hudson (R-NC) is leading a group of bipartisan House lawmakers in sending a letter to FDA commissioner Marty Makary urging the agency to take immediate action against the rising threat of illegal, counterfeit anti-obesity medications entering the U.S. The counterfeit products, which include unapproved versions of the active ingredients in Ozempic and Wegovy, are often smuggled from unregistered foreign suppliers, primarily in China, and pose serious risks to American consumers, Hudson says in a press release.

The letter asks FDA to use its existing statutory authority to ramp up enforcement over illegally imported prescription drugs. It urges the agency to immediately work with Customs and Border Patrol to issue an import alert and step up enforcement at the border to “prevent Chinese entities from undermining America’s supply of safe medicines by shipping unsafe and illicit weight loss drugs into the United States.”