Stop Illicit Weight Loss Drug Gray Market from Targeting New Jerseyans

Imagine struggling with obesity your whole life and then seeing a post on your daily scroll, advertising an effective and affordable way to achieve weight loss. The company claims that for as low as $100-200 a month, you can buy GLP-1s, the new weight loss drugs you've been hearing all about. If the deal seems too good to be true, that’s because it is.

And it is happening right now to people in our community. As the former Mayor of Colts Neck and current Township Committeewoman, the importance of protecting the health and safety of our residents is paramount. And with my background in public health, I know why counterfeit GLP-1 medications being aggressively marketed through social media is such a dangerous trend targeting vulnerable people across New Jersey and the country.

These predatory companies know exactly what they're doing. They understand that millions of Americans struggle with obesity and that people are desperate for affordable solutions. They’re exploiting the legitimate medical needs of people to make a profit.

But what they don’t advertise is incredibly concerning. Many of these products are illegally compounded, containing untested and unregulated ingredients, or active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs), from overseas. Compounding involves using the individual ingredients of a certain drug to create a tailored and specific version. Compounding is a legitimate practice when patients are unable to use brand-name drugs or during FDA-declared shortages, which was the case previously with GLP-1s. Even though they were removed from the shortage list earlier this year, companies have continued to produce and sell these unregulated versions.

These illicit APIs typically come from China and India and have not undergone FDA safety testing. Some sellers even directly sell APIs to consumers, allowing them to mix their own medications at home with no medical training or sterile equipment.

These practices pose serious threats to people’s health and well-being. That $100 “deal” could cost someone their health or even their life. As of September 2025, the FDA has reported 1,424 adverse events associated with compounded GLP-1s, which include hundreds of hospitalizations and 23 deaths. These numbers represent real people experiencing serious, sometimes life-threatening complications from products they believed were safe.

To ensure the public health and safety of all, we need stronger action from federal and state agencies. Our own Attorney General Matthew Platkin and Congressman Herb Conaway have joined their colleagues in calling on the FDA and Customs and Border Protection to prevent illicit APIs from entering our country and crack down on illegal compounding in the country. While the FDA’s green list was a good first step to preventing illicit APIs from entering the country, loopholes still allow certain sourced APIs to enter. As such, illegal compounding will continue. We must do all we can to prevent this, like what was done in neighboring Pennsylvania, where the Pennsylvania Department of State recently took enforcement action on a pharmacy illegally compounding GLP-1s.

New Jerseyans deserve to access affordable treatments for obesity with no concerns over what is in their medication.