March 6, 2025

Denver, C.O. — This month, partner organizations of the Health Equity Coalition for Chronic Disease (HECCD) are urging Colorado lawmakers to create regulations for the sale and distribution of compounded weight-loss medication — protecting consumers from unproven and ineffective compounded drugs that often enter the gray market due to lack of proper oversight. HECCD’s partner organizations testified that these efforts would help protect patients without health care coverage who are increasingly turning to therapies that are not FDA approved — putting them at risk of serious health complications. 

HECCD partner organizations — including the National Hispanic Council on Aging (NHCOA), National Hispanic Health Foundation (NHHF), and League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) — submitted testimony to Colorado lawmakers:

“When evidence-based treatments are financially out of reach, alternative markets often fill the void. For Latino seniors — who are more likely to experience poverty and lower retirement savings — aggressive telehealth advertising can feel like a lifeline. But without transparency, that lifeline may be unsafe,” NHCOA asserted in its testimony. 

“When legitimate obesity treatment is unaffordable or uncovered by insurance, people look elsewhere. And the market has responded. Not with patient protections, but with aggressive, deceptive advertising. We are especially concerned about Spanish-language and culturally targeted marketing that fails to clearly explain that compounded drugs are not FDA-approved, have not undergone the same safety review, and may carry unknown risks. When advertising obscures these distinctions, it exploits trust,” NHHF added in its testimony to Colorado lawmakers. 

“For Latino families and other underserved communities, the goal should never be framed as a choice between access and safety. Patients deserve both. They deserve medications that are safe, transparently sourced, reliably dosed, and responsibly regulated,” LULAC said in its testimony. 

HECCD has long advocated for stronger patient protections. Earlier this year, HECCD applauded the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for announcing a series of new actions and steps to combat the proliferation and marketing of non–FDA-approved compounded, or “copycat,” GLP-1 obesity drugs, arguing that “Strengthening oversight and curbing misleading marketing are important steps in protecting patients’ health and upholding the integrity of the FDA approval process.” 

Last fall, HECCD joined with the National Consumers League (NCL) and a dozen other prominent national advocacy leaders (including LULAC, MANA, and NHCOA) to petition the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) — asking them “to undertake a thorough investigation of the pervasive, deceptive and misleading marketing practices of telehealth platforms.” The petition argued, “these practices expose consumers to unsubstantiated claims and misleading inferences regarding safety, efficacy and the comparability of the ingredients used in compounded GLP1 products as compared to FDA approved products.” 

More information about the dangers of GLP-1 copycat medications for patients and consumers can be found at NCL’s website here or in their policy report here.