Black-market manufacturers are selling substances that promise to tan skin, repair tissue and help with weight loss. Chinese producers of the ingredients that go into fentanyl have found a profitable new market in the U.S.: peptides.
A growing number of Chinese chemical manufacturers that have supplied fentanyl precursors to drug cartels are now capitalizing on the peptide craze in the U.S. and elsewhere, selling unregulated substances, according to advertisements from the vendors and companies that track cryptocurrency payments. Some of the manufacturers have been indicted in the U.S. for their role in the global fentanyl trade.
TRM Labs has been tracking more than 200 companies that have sold fentanyl precursors. Out of those, at least 50 are currently selling peptides, a number that has been growing. One Chinese company, Anhui Rencheng Technology, was indicted in 2023 by the Justice Department for providing fentanyl precursors used by the Sinaloa and other Mexican drug cartels. It is now selling a peptide called Melanotan II and semaglutide.
Emily Hilliard, a Health and Human Services Department spokesperson, said the “FDA is concerned about the sale of unapproved drug products, including products marketed as peptides.” The transformative weight-loss effects of GLP-1-based medications have led consumers to question what other substances they could inject.
Source: Wall Street Journal US Business · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing