GLP-1 drugs play a critical role in combating the nation's obesity crisis, offering hope and transformative results to those struggling with weight management. In the wake of the blockbuster success and unprecedented demand for these drugs, the FDA declared a shortage and placed GLP-1 medications on the Drug Shortage List, subsequently permitted the production of compounded versions to meet demand.  
 
This development has resulted in the explosion of a grey market that exposes patients to additional harmful risks. While compounded medications serve a critical role for patients whose needs are not met by available therapies, many entities are taking advantage of the commercial success of GLP-1s to make a profit, without the rigorous oversight and testing necessary to guarantee quality and safety.   
 
Compounded GLP-1 products are not FDA-approved and do not undergo evaluation for safety or effectiveness. They are often sourced from unauthorized vendors without proper regulatory oversight. These knock-off products often contain significant impurities compared to the FDA-approved products. Often these compounded medications are using subpar foreign active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) that are coming from adversarial countries like China. The result is a flood of unknown and under-regulated products hitting the market, while patients willingly inject themselves, not remotely aware of the dangers.  
 
While the FDA declared an end to the shortage in May 2025, compounders did not cease production. Instead, they have exploited regulatory loopholes under the guise of “personalization” and continue to match commercial manufacturers’ output.  They continue to engage in deceptive advertising practices, flooding social media feeds with grand promises that perpetuate harmful body image standards while omitting key safety information  
 
I believe this is a true public health crisis. This proliferation of unregulated, unsafe versions of GLP-1s has infiltrated Pennsylvania and impacting the health of our consumers.  In the absence of federal regulation enforcement, it is time for Pennsylvania to step up and address this issue with legislation. 
 
My legislation looks to accomplish the following: 
Protects patients from the use of subpar APIs used in GLP-1 medications sold in Pennsylvania; 

Allows the state to identify and penalize entities selling unregulated GLP-1 products; 

Establishes stronger API quality assurance measures so that when compounders make a GLP-1 drug from scratch, harmful impurities can be tested and removed from the product; and  

Establishes criteria that compounding advertisements must meet in order to be truthful and not misleading; and 

Updates oversight, enforcement, and recordkeeping requirements to support oversight and compliance.   
My legislation will not impact compounding for all drugs and diseases—it is specifically targeting compounded GLP-1 medications.  This legislation will also not affect compounding that occurs in hospitals or clinical settings, does not apply to outsourcing facilities, or regulate veterinary compounding. It will seek to raise the bar for API quality for compounded GLP-1 products, so Pennsylvanians can rest assured that before they inject, they know they are getting high quality medications. 
 
Pennsylvanians having access to safe medications is paramount. I urge you to join me as a co-sponsor to help Pennsylvania patients to ensure they are using safe and effective medications.