A shadowy market for weight-loss drugs has emerged online

Shortages and big price tags have driven patients to unconventional sources of GLP-1 drugs. Scientists around the country have raised concerns about drug quality, dosing and scams. Buyers must rely on themselves to reconstitute and inject these drugs, without physician guidance. That means buying a specific type of sterile water, calculating how much to add to the vial of freeze-dried powder, mixing it and then figuring out exactly how much to draw up in a syringe and inject into the body. It’s a recipe for confusion — and potentially danger.

 Lilly’s GLP-1 Direct-To-Consumer Move Changes The ‘Game Changer’ Game

“Game changer” refers to any simple solution paraded as the answer to a complex problem. The ubiquitous use of game changer in describing the benefits of the GLP-1 category of drugs is the latest example. The pharmaceutical giant, Eli Lilly has just launched its newly approved GLP-1 product, Zepbound, in a direct-to-consumer approach on its Lilly Direct. This marketing move is potentially quite problematic.

Best Weight Loss Medications Of 2025

Several of the most popular telehealth platforms for getting weight loss medication prescriptions online.

Are Compounded GLP-1s Still Allowed? 5 Reasons They Haven’t Gone Away Completely

The supply of FDA-approved GLP-1s is improving. But there are a few reasons why compounded versions haven’t disappeared entirely. Here’s what’s happening — and what it could mean for you.

Compounded GLP-1s Are Going Away. Here’s What To Do If You Take Them.

Compounding pharmacies have been allowed to make generic versions of Ozempic, Mounjaro, and similar drugs — until now.

FDA declares semaglutide shortage over, spelling end to compounded GLP-1 market, for now

The FDA said it will give compounding pharmacies time to wind down "to avoid unnecessary disruption to patient treatment." The FDA said compounders have until April or May, depending on their regulatory status, to stop compounding, distributing or dispensing semaglutide injection products.

Misleading Statements Common in Online Ads for Compounded GLP-1s

More than one-third of websites selling their own versions implied the products were the same as the FDA-approved drugs.

New Study Finds Online Advertising for Compounded Diabetes and Weight-Loss Drugs May Mislead Consumers

Online advertising for compounded versions of a popular class of type 2 diabetes and weight-loss medications commonly includes practices that only partially inform or even misinform consumers, a team of Yale School of Medicine (YSM) researchers has found. The work was published in January as a research letter in JAMA Health Forum.

Semaglutide: beware of buying the weight-loss drug online

Even if it is legal to produce compounded versions of semaglutide, these versions are still prescription drugs. This means that online buyers without prescriptions face two somewhat alarming possibilities: either they’re not getting semaglutide legally, or they’re not getting semaglutide at all. In the former case, people have none of the protections they would have when taking a properly prescribed drug. In the latter case, they may be wasting money on something that is at best ineffective, and at worst dangerous.

The GLP-1 drug shortage is over. What’s next for the compounders?

Telehealth providers, whose revenue skyrocketed amidst GLP-1 shortages, remain defiant on their compounded semaglutide offerings.