Weight-loss drugs like GLP-1s are easy to buy online, raising overdose and safety concerns

Health newsWeight-loss drugs like GLP-1s are easy to buy online, raising overdose and safety concernsMany telehealth companies have emerged in recent years offering easy access to GLP-1 weight loss drugs as demand has exploded.Listen to this article with a free account00:0000:00Add NBC News to GoogleAlarming rise in weight loss drug overdoses03:16Get more newsLiveonShareAdd NBC News to GoogleMay 28, 2026, 9:04 PM EDTBy Lauren Sausser | KFF Health News and Maia Rosenfeld | KFF Health NewsWithin 24 hours of injecting the first dose of a weight loss medication she received following a visit with a telehealth doctor, Karleigh McClain was admitted to the hospital, she said.Subscribe to read this story ad-free Get unlimited access to ad-free articles and exclusive content.The 31-year-old compliance consultant from Hendersonville, Tennessee, said she couldn’t stop vomiting.“Sunday morning, it all hits,” McClain recalled, as she described what happened that weekend in January. “I can’t keep anything down.”McClain said she thought the dosage the telehealth company had prescribed seemed too high. She tried to contact her doctor, but when she didn’t get an immediate response, she said she called the company and a “care team” representative confirmed the instructions — which said to inject 2.21 milligrams of the semaglutide medication once a week — were correct.It turned out, however, that was nearly nine times the amount patients are typically told to take for their first dose.Nearly a month after she was diagnosed with an overdose, McClain said she was “still dealing with the residual side effects,” including an elevated heart rate and vision problems she felt were tied to the medication.The dose the telehealth company prescribed to Karleigh McClain was nearly nine times the amount patients are typically told to take for their first dose.NBC Nightly NewsMost patients who have taken a GLP-1 received their prescription through a primary care doctor or a specialist, KFF polling...