MONTGOMERY, Ala. – Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall is leading a coalition of 20 states calling for greater federal oversight of imported ingredients used in compounded GLP-1 drugs, citing concerns about the integrity of parts of the pharmaceutical supply chain linked to China.
Marshall sent a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio raising what the coalition describes as national security and consumer safety concerns involving ingredients used in compounded drugs such as semaglutide, tirzepatide and retatrutide. The attorneys general are asking federal officials to strengthen oversight of the Food and Drug Administration’s Green List program or restrict potentially unsafe ingredients from entering the country.
The FDA established its Green List in September 2025 as part of an import alert designed to prevent potentially dangerous GLP-1 active pharmaceutical ingredients from unverified foreign sources from entering the U.S. market. Contrary to the Alabama attorney general’s characterization that the program effectively allows products to enter “without detention or inspection,” the FDA describes the Green List as applying to facilities it has inspected or evaluated and that appear to comply with federal manufacturing standards.
The coalition’s concerns follow an FDA investigation of Harbin Jixianglong Biotech Co. Ltd., a Chinese pharmaceutical ingredient supplier that had been placed on the Green List in September 2025.
An FDA inspection in November found that Harbin purchased semaglutide ingredients from outside suppliers, repackaged and relabeled the material and identified itself as the manufacturer. The agency found that at least one source facility was not on the Green List and said Harbin changed manufacturing and retest dates without adequate supporting data. The affected semaglutide was distributed to the United States.
The FDA said the practices may have been an attempt to circumvent import safeguards and could expose consumers to substandard GLP-1 ingredients. Harbin subsequently agreed to voluntarily recall two batches of semaglutide distributed in the United States. The FDA removed the company from the Green List and placed it on another import alert in February.
Marshall’s office argues the Harbin case demonstrates weaknesses that could be exploited by foreign suppliers and says the coalition has identified additional concerns involving connections between some pharmaceutical suppliers and entities involved in fentanyl manufacturing. That national security characterization comes from the attorneys general’s letter.
The FDA has separately increased scrutiny of unapproved compounded GLP-1 drugs. The agency says compounded medications are not FDA-approved and that it does not review their safety, effectiveness or quality before they are marketed. In April, the FDA proposed excluding semaglutide, tirzepatide and liraglutide from a list of bulk substances that certain outsourcing facilities may use for compounding based on clinical need.
The Alabama-led letter was joined by attorneys general from Arkansas, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah and West Virginia.