[HN Gopher] FDA intends to take action against non-FDA-approved ...
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       FDA intends to take action against non-FDA-approved GLP-1 drugs
        
       Author : randycupertino
       Score  : 23 points
       Date   : 2026-02-07 22:25 UTC (35 minutes ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.fda.gov)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.fda.gov)
        
       | randycupertino wrote:
       | This is big. HIMS and HERS and other companies are blantatly
       | skirting patent laws under the guise of compounding.
        
         | J7jKW2AAsgXhWm wrote:
         | Mochi health too
        
         | teaearlgraycold wrote:
         | I'm generally happy to see IP disrespected.
        
         | raincom wrote:
         | Everyone can make their own compounding drug in their
         | basements, thanks to Telegram and other hidden platforms:
         | source sema/tirz, get bac water, mix them.
        
         | krackers wrote:
         | >blantatly skirting patent laws
         | 
         | Why is this a bad thing? The quickest way to fix the
         | medical/insurance/bureaucracy complex is to just allow people
         | to sell direct to consumer.
         | 
         | The best (worst) example of this is CPAP. Ideally you'd just be
         | able to go and buy one for $300, but instead there is a complex
         | around "necessity" and "prescription", which creates an
         | effective monopoly where the exact same hardware can be sold at
         | different price points with software locked features.
        
           | loeg wrote:
           | Why is it bad when companies break the law? We have patent
           | laws for a reason (to incentivize enormously expensive drug
           | development).
           | 
           | Novo and Lilly already sell direct to the consumer! Yes, you
           | need a prescription, but once you have one you can buy
           | straight from the manufacturer.
        
             | selectively wrote:
             | That's nice. The rest of the world has price caps on what
             | these companies can charge for drugs.
             | 
             | It's one or the other. You can have your ''patents'' and
             | ''intellectual property'' respected...but that requires you
             | not charge an outrageously higher price in certain markets,
             | like the US.
        
           | zamadatix wrote:
           | If it's good to change the rules we should seek to change the
           | rules, not just choose to ignore them and hope others agree.
        
       | mindslight wrote:
       | Is there a cash price for getting the government to shake down
       | your competitors, the way there is for pardons ? Or is this type
       | of service only available in exchange for equity stakes?
        
       | cj wrote:
       | It's unfortunate that shutting these companies down will result
       | in less people gaining access to the drug.
       | 
       | GLP-1's might be the best thing to happen to medicine this decade
       | - I personally want everyone who would benefit from it to have
       | access.
        
       | tptacek wrote:
       | It is wild that it took until 2026 for this to happen.
       | 
       | In the late 1990s, when my friends wanted mushrooms or 5MEO-DMT,
       | they'd order from "Poisonous Non-Consumables" catalogs. Today,
       | people are literally doing that (same words, even!), but for the
       | next iteration of GLP1 drugs not yet on the wider market.
       | Compounding pharmacies are selling "research chemicals", like in
       | Bitcoin Mining Profit Calculator: Gaiden.
        
         | cj wrote:
         | People are getting retatrutide from random websites (not what's
         | being shut down here) not from compounding pharmacies.
        
           | tptacek wrote:
           | Totally fair point. I'm just surprised how poorly regulated
           | this stuff is.
        
             | loeg wrote:
             | The regulation is pretty clear? We just don't choose to
             | blackhole shady foreign companies from the American
             | internet as a matter of policy. And cannot effectively
             | screen all imports.
        
         | loeg wrote:
         | I think this is compounding pharmacies selling legit
         | semaglutide (or tirzepatide?), but doing the packaging
         | (dilution in water) themselves. No? I don't think Hims is
         | selling RCs. They're violating Novo's (or Lilly's) patents.
         | 
         | It is wild to me that compounding pharmacies continued to sell
         | these in violation of patents even after the expiration of the
         | FDA supply shortfall status last year -- but I suppose there's
         | so much money in it they don't want to give it up.
         | 
         | https://www.fda.gov/drugs/drug-safety-and-availability/fda-c...
        
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       (page generated 2026-02-07 23:00 UTC)