Connecticut Attorney General William Tong has announced that international trade platform Made-in-China will cease all sales of unlawful "research grade" GLP-1 weight loss drugs into the United States following a state investigation into the platform's direct sales to Connecticut consumers without prescriptions or medical oversight.
The settlement requires Made-in-China to prohibit manufacturers from using the platform to advertise or sell GLP-1s to U.S. customers, deploy a monitoring system to detect and remove such listings, and remove any GLP-1 listings within five days. The company is subject to a $300,000 penalty to the state, suspended after $30,000, with additional penalties applicable for any violations.
"Research grade" GLP-1s are not FDA-approved for human use. Studies have found that bootleg GLP-1s can contain impurities, potential bacterial contamination, and inconsistent quantities of active ingredients, which can result in medication overdoses. Sellers may falsely claim such drugs are FDA-approved or are generic versions of Ozempic®, Wegovy®, Mounjaro®, or Zepbound®.
The Made-in-China settlement follows a 2025 agreement with Triggered Brand requiring it to cease all bootleg GLP-1 sales, with a $300,000 judgment suspended after $18,500. Also announced today, Attorney General Tong reached a settlement with Radiance Medspa of Avon, which had advertised and prescribed non-FDA approved compounded semaglutide and/or tirzepatide GLP-1 weight loss injections. A similar settlement with Advanced Medical Weight Loss of East Hartford was reached in June 2025. Both companies have ceased all advertising and sales of the compounded drugs and are subject to civil penalties.
Attorney General Tong said, "There are currently no generic GLP-1 weight loss injections on the market, and anyone advertising or offering this is not telling the truth and exposing patients to potentially unsafe bootleg drugs. We will continue to identify and shut down sales of these illegal and unsafe products. Additional enforcement actions are active and ongoing, and we will not hesitate to take strong action to protect patients and consumers."
The settlements reflect growing regulatory scrutiny of the online marketplace for GLP-1 drugs, which expanded rapidly as branded medications like Ozempic and Wegovy surged in popularity and outpaced supply. Enforcement actions targeting bootleg and compounded versions of the drugs have accelerated at both the state and federal level, as regulators work to close distribution channels that bypass the prescription system and expose consumers to products of uncertain safety and composition.
