Hello and welcome to a special episode of USA Today's The Excerpt.

I'm Dana Taylor.

A growing number of Americans are turning their kitchens into makeshift labs and mixing their own versions of weight loss drugs like OZempec.

They're called gray GLP-1s and they're unregulated, illegal, and increasingly popular.

For some, it's a way to bypass high costs and limited access.

But for doctors and legal experts, it's a troubling

trend that raises questions about safety and oversight. USA Today wellness reporter, Nicole

Fowler, looked into this underground market and what's driving people to take these risks.

Nicole, thank you so much for joining me. Hi, Dana. Happy to be here. Experts you interviewed were clear. These drugs are illegal and unregulated. First, what's

driving this trend is it simply the outsized cost associated with the GLP1 drugs?

I think what's really driving the trend not only is the cost, right? It's a few hundred

dollars to get a brand name drug like Wagovi or Zembek, but also that insurance doesn't

always cover that. I spoke with one mom in Alabama who really wanted to lose some weight postpartum, but because of her

base weight and her background health conditions, she wasn't able to qualify for coverage.

So that was going to look like a few thousand dollars a year for her to be able to lose a few

pounds. So that is a big motivator. There's also the look at people who have maybe been on a

brand name, GLP1 for some time, and they no longer want to pay that higher cost. And they're looking

for a maintenance option to keep up with some of the health benefits that they've been able to get

from the drug. And there's also

people who are stockpiling during supply gaps that are facing manufacturers of brand names

trying to keep up with high demand, right? So they're worried about not being able to get that

drug in time, and they're looking for something to fill gaps.

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