As demand for GLP-1 medications continues to skyrocket for weight loss and diabetes, more Americans are skipping pharmacies and turning to unregulated sellers as a way to avoid high prices, insurance barriers and recurring shortages.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has warned that so-called "gray-market" GLP-1s (such as semaglutide or tirzepatide) are not evaluated for safety, quality or efficacy.
As they fall outside the legal drug supply chain, these unapproved drugs may be counterfeit, contaminated or improperly compounded, the agency states.
Some are marketed online as "compounded semaglutide" or "research-use only," shipped directly to consumers with little oversight.
Recent research published in JAMA Health Forum also warned that some compounded products use unverified chemical forms of semaglutide that differ from FDA-approved versions.
Fox News Digital spoke with Frank Dumont, M.D., medical director at Virta Health in Colorado, who said the rise of gray-market GLP-1s reflects growing desperation to access these medications outside regulated medical channels.
"Gray-market medications are versions of prescription medications that are obtained outside of the usual prescription process," Dumont said.
"The usual safety precautions have been bypassed, in one way or another, and this increases the medical risk of using such a product."
Source: Fox News, 7 October 2025
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