Attorney General Tim Griffin released the following statement after he joined a bipartisan coalition of state and territory attorneys general calling on the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to take swift action against bad actors who are endangering consumers with counterfeit forms of weight-loss and diabetes drugs:
“Legitimate weight-loss and diabetes treatments such as Mounjaro, Zepbound, Ozempic, and Wegovy, known as GLP-1 drugs, have risen in popularity in recent years. Unfortunately, where legitimate and useful goods and services arise, fraudulent actors are likely to follow. In this case, counterfeit drugs, often originating from overseas in places like China, are being sold online to unsuspecting American consumers, including Arkansans.
“I have joined a bipartisan group of attorneys general calling on the FDA to curtail the distribution of counterfeit drugs being distributed online. Consumers should be able to seek legitimate treatment without fear of the drugs they purchase being ineffective, or worse, outright harmful.
“The FDA has the expertise and resources to go after these counterfeit drug manufacturers. Our letter urges them to exercise their ability to shut these operations down and to work with state pharmacy boards to ensure that GLP-1 drugs are compounded safely.”
Joining Arkansas on the letter co-led by South Carolina, Colorado, Illinois, and Tennessee is Alaska, California, Connecticut, Delaware, District of Columbia, Georgia, Hawaii, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Utah, Vermont, Virgin Islands, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.
Original source can be found here.