CBS News published an investigation this week into the booming gray market for retatrutide — an experimental weight-loss drug not approved by the FDA and one that, as APC's Scott Brunner put it plainly, compounding pharmacies have zero legal grounds to compound. The article is worth reading carefully, because it calls out licensed compounding pharmacies alongside research-grade peptide mills, unlicensed online vendors, and med spas — and in some of those cases, the inclusion is warranted.
The profession needs to be clear-eyed about that. The line between legitimate compounding and the gray market only means something if pharmacies actually hold it — because the regulatory consequences of blurring it won't be selective.