MONTGOMERY, AL – Alabama Attorney General Steve Marshall is leading a coalition of 20 states calling for increased federal oversight of foreign suppliers of ingredients used in compounded GLP-1 medications, citing concerns about the security and safety of the pharmaceutical supply chain.
Marshall submitted a letter to Secretary of State Marco Rubio raising concerns about active pharmaceutical ingredients sourced from Chinese businesses and used in compounded medications including semaglutide, tirzepatide and retatrutide. The coalition characterized the issue as both a consumer-safety and national-security concern.
The letter focuses in part on the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s “Green List,” which was established in September 2025 as part of an import alert involving GLP-1 active pharmaceutical ingredients. The FDA said when the program was launched that its purpose was to prevent potentially dangerous GLP-1 ingredients from unverified foreign sources from entering the United States while allowing imports from facilities the agency had inspected or evaluated and determined appeared to comply with federal manufacturing standards.
Marshall and the other attorneys general contend that weaknesses in the system can allow ingredients from unapproved sources to enter the U.S. supply chain through companies included on the Green List.
The coalition cited Harbin Jixianglong Biotech Co., Ltd., a Chinese manufacturer that had previously been included on the Green List, as an example.
According to an FDA warning letter issued in May, investigators found that Harbin purchased semaglutide from outside suppliers, repackaged and relabeled the product and identified itself as the manufacturer. FDA investigators also found instances in which manufacturing and retest dates were changed. The agency said some of the semaglutide was distributed to the United States.
The FDA said it was concerned that identifying Harbin rather than the actual manufacturers may have been an attempt to circumvent safeguards associated with the import program. Harbin was removed from the Green List in February 2026 and placed on a separate import alert involving companies that had not met drug manufacturing standards.
Marshall said the coalition is asking Rubio and the National Security Council to establish greater oversight of the Green List program or prevent ingredients considered potentially dangerous from entering the country.
“Chinese businesses quickly found and exploited a gap in the system that happens to be a direct line to Americans who use these popular injectable drugs,” Marshall said. “This is a direct and immediate risk to consumers’ health and safety, as well as a national security risk.”
The FDA has separately cautioned consumers about unapproved GLP-1 drugs. While some medications containing semaglutide and tirzepatide have FDA approval for specific uses, compounded versions are not FDA-approved and do not undergo the agency’s premarket review for safety, effectiveness and quality.
The multistate letter follows a previous settlement by Marshall’s office involving an Alabama business accused of selling research-grade versions of tirzepatide and semaglutide in violation of the Alabama Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
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 joined Alabama in the letter.
