Peptide News Digest

#Warning-Letter

2 stories

Regulatory · View digest

FDA Warning Letter Says Empower Pharmacy's Compounded Semaglutide and Tirzepatide Appear to Be 'Essentially Copies' of Approved Drugs

The FDA issued a warning letter dated September 18, 2026 to Houston-based Empower Pharmacy after a November 3-14, 2025 inspection, saying its compounded semaglutide and tirzepatide products appear to be 'essentially copies' of FDA-approved drugs and did not meet the conditions of section 503A. The agency said prescriber determinations of a 'significant difference' appeared to be repeated verbatim across many records, suggesting they may be pre-generated, and called the differences between Empower's products and the approved drugs 'pretextual.' The letter also cites insanitary conditions, including inadequate smoke studies of airflow in the ISO 5 area and media fills not run under the most challenging conditions. Empower has 15 working days to respond; BioSpace reported the letter on September 24.

Regulatory · View digest

FDA Warning Letter to Harbin Jixianglong Biotech (May 20): Chinese GLP-1 Supplier Shipped Semaglutide API Sourced From Non-Green-List Facility Under Misleading Label

The FDA sent a warning letter to Harbin Jixianglong Biotech disclosed May 20 after inspectors discovered a compliance failure at the company's manufacturing facility two months after the firm had been added to the FDA's green list to export GLP-1 drugs to the US. Jixianglong allegedly bought semaglutide active pharmaceutical ingredient from a facility not on the green list, labeled the API as manufactured at its own plant (implying the green-listed origin), and shipped the batch to US customers. The FDA framed the labeling as an apparent attempt to circumvent import-alert safeguards. The agency's March 11 enforcement report had previously listed Jixianglong recalls of semaglutide for compounding use only, attributed to failing to complete process validation and bacterial endotoxin method validation before distribution. The action is part of the broader FDA Pharmaceutical Quality / GLP-1 supply-chain enforcement cycle, including the April 30 503B bulks-list proposal closing June 29.