The Telangana Standards Authority for Food and Essential Drugs (TG SAFE) has warned doctors and the public against buying, prescribing or self-injecting unapproved weight-loss drugs and experimental peptides. These products are being sold online and through Telegram as “research chemicals”. Two of the named drugs are next-generation obesity medicines from Eli Lilly: one has not been approved anywhere, and the other has not been approved in India. The advisory exposes a growing gap between global demand for obesity treatment and the regulated supply reaching Indian patients.
According to the advisory, reported by Telangana Today and Deccan Chronicle, these products lack the regulatory approval required for their intended use. Many are sold as “research chemicals”, sometimes labelled “Not for Human Consumption”, yet supplied with injection kits and self-administration instructions. TG SAFE said the identity, purity and quality of such products cannot be assured. It said injectables may not have been tested for sterility or bacterial endotoxins, and it warned of serious infections, severe adverse reactions, life-threatening complications and, in some cases, death. Messaging platforms such as Telegram, it said, could be used to market counterfeit or mislabelled vials.
The advisory was also directed at the medical profession. Deccan Chronicle reported that retatrutide and orforglipron were being offered for weight loss by “certain medical practitioners in the state”. TG SAFE cautioned registered doctors against procuring, prescribing or administering these products, warning of “stringent action” under the Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940. The regulator named no practitioners and reported no seizures.
What the named drugs are
The two headline drugs belong to the incretin class that has transformed obesity medicine since semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro, Zepbound). These drugs mimic gut hormones that regulate appetite and blood sugar.
Orforglipron is a once-daily oral, non-peptide GLP-1 receptor agonist developed by Eli Lilly. The US Food and Drug Administration approved it for chronic weight management on 1 April 2026 under the brand name Foundayo, according to Lilly. In India, a CDSCO Subject Expert Committee recommended on 8 June 2026 that Lilly be permitted to import and market it, with prescriptions restricted to endocrinologists and internal-medicine specialists and a Phase IV trial required, Medical Dialogues reported. That was a committee recommendation, not a final approval. Lilly’s chief executive, David Ricks, said this month that an Indian launch could come “as early as 2027”. Any orforglipron reaching Indian patients today is therefore, by definition, outside the approved supply chain.
Retatrutide is further from the market. It is an investigational once-weekly injection that activates three hormone receptors: GIP, GLP-1 and glucagon. In July 2026 Lilly reported topline Phase 3 results. In the TRIUMPH-3 trial of adults with obesity and cardiovascular disease, average weight loss at 80 weeks was 21.6–22.6%, against 3.2% with placebo. Gastrointestinal side effects were common, and 13.5% of participants on the highest dose stopped treatment because of adverse events, against 4.8% on placebo. Lilly plans to file with the FDA in the first quarter of 2027. Retatrutide is not approved anywhere in the world.
The three peptides fall into a different category. Tesamorelin is a synthetic growth-hormone-releasing factor approved in the United States, as Egrifta, for reducing excess abdominal fat in people with HIV-associated lipodystrophy. It has no approval as a general weight-loss drug. BPC-157 and GHK-Cu are popular in online “biohacking” communities for claimed healing and anti-ageing effects. Neither has a regulatory approval for human therapeutic use.
Why the grey market has grown
The demand behind the advisory is easy to understand. India has one of the world’s largest populations living with obesity and type 2 diabetes. The new drugs produce weight loss that, until recently, only bariatric surgery could match. Social media is saturated with before-and-after stories and influencer testimonials.
Legitimate supply has expanded, but slowly and at a price. Semaglutide’s Indian patent expired in March 2026, and generic versions have since multiplied; as NSH reported on 14 October, generic semaglutide volumes rose 3.8-fold in six months. But the newest molecules, with larger effects in trials, are not available legally, and that is the gap the grey market fills.
The “research chemical” label is a familiar regulatory dodge. By claiming a product is for laboratory use only, sellers try to sidestep rules governing medicines. The risks to a person who injects such a product are concrete: – The vial may contain the wrong substance, the wrong dose or nothing active at all. – Peptides are fragile and can degrade without cold-chain storage. – Most seriously, a non-sterile injectable can introduce bacteria or endotoxins directly into tissue or the bloodstream.
Even a genuine drug used without medical supervision carries risks. Incretin drugs can cause severe nausea and vomiting, dehydration, gallbladder problems and, rarely, pancreatitis. Doses must be escalated carefully.
Regulatory context
The advisory comes as regulators everywhere struggle with the same problem. In the United States, shortages of branded GLP-1 drugs fuelled a large compounding and online market, and regulators have since issued repeated warnings about counterfeit and unapproved products. In India, the National Medical Commission has been tightening rules on misleading medical promotion on social media.
TG SAFE has signalled that enforcement will extend to prescribers as well as sellers. It has also asked the public to report cases to its Drugs Wing toll-free number, 1800-599-6969 (10:30 am to 5 pm on working days).
Limitations
The advisory, as reported, gives no figures on how many patients or practitioners are involved, names no sellers, and cites no adverse events in Telangana. It is a preventive warning rather than a report of documented harm. Its practical effect will depend on enforcement against online channels, which are difficult for a state regulator to police alone.
What to watch
Whether TG SAFE follows up with seizures or prosecutions; whether CDSCO grants final approval for orforglipron; and whether other state regulators issue similar warnings.
Dr Srinayani Kavuri
- Advisory: TG SAFE, issued 14 Oct 2026 (Deccan Chronicle, 14 Oct, 23:46 IST; Telangana Today, 15 Oct, 00:38 IST).
- Substances named: retatrutide, orforglipron (weight-loss drugs); tesamorelin, BPC-157, GHK-Cu (peptides).
- Sales channels: online platforms and Telegram; products sold as “research chemicals” labelled “Not for Human Consumption”, with injection kits.
- Legal basis: Drugs and Cosmetics Act, 1940; action threatened against prescribing doctors.
- Orforglipron: FDA-approved 1 Apr 2026 (Foundayo); CDSCO expert-panel recommendation 8 Jun 2026, not yet final approval in India.
- Retatrutide: investigational; TRIUMPH-3 weight loss 21.6–22.6% at 80 weeks; FDA filing planned Q1 2027.
- Helpline: 1800-599-6969.
