Attorney General Brenna Bird Urges Federal Government to Crack Down on Dangerous Counterfeit Chinese GLP-1s September 18, 2026

Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird joined a coalition of 19 other state attorneys general in a letter dated September 18, 2026, addressed to Secretary of State Marco Rubio urging federal action against counterfeit GLP-1 drugs sourced from Chinese manufacturers. The active pharmaceutical ingredients at issue include semaglutide, tirzepatide, and retatrutide. The letter alleges these ingredients enter the U.S. market through channels that bypass domestic drug-safety safeguards, including FDA premarket review and manufacturing quality controls. The coalition's letter describes a specific Chinese company that allegedly exploited a trusted relationship with the U.S. to obscure the unapproved source of an injectable drug entering the American market. The letter notes that the breach was detected through on-site inspection rather than border controls. The attorneys general draw a parallel to the 2007-2008 Heparin contamination crisis, in which adulterated active pharmaceutical ingredients from China killed or harmed hundreds of Americans. The letter further raises concerns that Chinese manufacturers with ties to fentanyl precursor supply chains are expanding into the peptide market, including cosmetic and weight-loss compounds. The coalition asks whether entities connected to fentanyl precursor markets that have moved into peptides are also introducing GLP-1 ingredients and GLP-1-adjacent peptides into the American compounding market. The state attorneys general request that federal agencies share information on three specific points: what is known about foreign GLP-1 and peptide supply chains and their ties to fentanyl-connected entities; what warning signs state enforcement officials should monitor; and how state-federal information sharing can be improved before the market expands further.