People searching for an affordable way to lose weight with a GLP-1 drug may come across products marketed as “GLP-1 patches” online.
They’re advertised as helping to reduce cravings, control appetite and support weight loss.
Consumers may think they’re getting a blockbuster GLP-1 drug like semaglutide — the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy — or tirzepatide — the active ingredient in Mounjaro and Zepbound — in a format that’s applied to the skin.
But experts warn that’s not the case.
There are currently no GLP-1 medications that can be absorbed through the skin, says C. Michael White, head of the department of pharmacy practice at the University of Connecticut. The drugs have large molecules that make that very difficult, if not impossible, he notes.
“The dietary supplement industry is the Wild West, but people have kicked it up another notch by borrowing the name GLP-1,” White tells TODAY.com. “Because that term is in a lot of people’s consciousness.”
GLP-1 drugs mimic a hormone the body produces after eating, which can decrease appetite. They’re injected, but a pill form may be available next year.
When consumers hear about the medications being effective for weight loss, they’re desperate to get them, adds Dr. Melanie Jay, director of the NYU Langone Comprehensive Program on Obesity Research.
“It creates a lot of demand, and it creates openings for people to exploit that demand,” Jay tells TODAY.com.
GLP-1 drugs are available only with a prescription and cost hundreds of dollars a month, while anyone can buy the patches and they may cost less than $1 per unit.
But the patches don’t contain actual GLP-1 medications — “they have herbs and other random things depending on the patch,” Jay says.
The main ingredient is usually berberine, White notes, a substance found in plants that’s also been added to products marketed as “GLP-1 supplements.”
Can You Get GLP-1 in a Patch?
“There are no FDA-approved GLP-1 patches,” the U.S. Food and Drug Administration tells TODAY.com in a statement.
There are also no FDA-approved drug products containing berberine, the agency adds.
“If you can buy it without a prescription, it’s not an actual GLP-1 drug,” Jamie Alan, an associate professor of pharmacology and toxicology at Michigan State University, told NBC News.
Kind Patches, a popular brand on TikTok, has renamed its “GLP-1 patches” as “berberine patches,” though the formula remains the same, according to its website.
Kind Patches has renamed its GLP-1 patches as berberine patches.Kind Patches
The company describes the patches as “crafted to support healthy weight management and appetite control.”
The new name “is better appreciated by our customers, as it more clearly states the main ingredient,” Kind Patches said in a statement to TODAY.com.
“We are not a pharmaceutical company and we do not make any medical claims.”
Do GLP-1 Patches Work for Weight Loss?
The experts doubt it.
When people swallow berberine supplements, they may lose a very modest amount of weight — 2 to 4 pounds, White notes. But there’s no research showing what happens when berberine is applied in patch form, he adds.
It’s the same issue with the other ingredients commonly listed in “GLP-1 patches,” including green tea extract (also called EGCG), garcinia cambogia, pomegranate extract, mango seed extract, ginger root extract, cinnamon, L-glutamine (an amino acid), and various vitamins and minerals, White says.
When taken orally, some of these ingredients might lead to a 1-to-3-pound weight loss, but they haven’t been studied for going through the skin at all, he adds.
There could be a placebo effect, Jay says.
Do Patches Boost GLP-1 levels?
Some patches are marketed as “boosting” GLP-1 levels. Some of the ingredients might increase the body’s natural GLP-1 hormone, but so does food in general when people eat, Jay says.
“Our natural GLP-1 lasts seconds to minutes in our bodies, whereas the (prescription GLP-1) medications last over a week,” she notes.
“So it’s a whole different concentration and duration and activity than our natural GLP-1.”
Are ‘GLP-1 Patches’ Safe?
White and Jay are concerned about what’s actually in the products.
“They have ingredient lists, but there’s no standardization or seals of approval,” Jay says. “I think there is a risk.”
When White and his students looked at online reviews of “GLP-1 patches,” they found some consumers reporting skin rashes, burns and blisters.
“I can’t tell you that it’s due to undisclosed latex, or whether these other things that are never meant to be put on the skin cause irritation to people who might have allergy to the extract of a mango, or might have an allergic reaction to something that’s in ginger root, or the cinnamon or the berberine itself,” White says.
Cinnamon, for example, can contain high heavy metal concentrations if it’s not processed properly, he points out.
White also worries about the possibility of undisclosed chemicals being added to the patches.
Kind Patches says its products are tested by independent third-party laboratories, and that it uses “proven supplement ingredients that our customers suggest and demand.”
Companies selling the patches often tout that the ingredients bypass the digestive system this way and go straight into the bloodstream, but that’s actually a concern, White says.
When a person swallows something, the small intestine and liver have enzymes that can detoxify it before it ever reaches the bloodstream, he notes.
“That’s a safety feature that your body has designed to stop foreign things from getting in your body. It’s not just for bacteria and viruses, it’s also for other potential toxins and compounds,” White says.
That’s why patches can’t be considered dietary supplements, he notes, since dietary supplements are partially defined by the FDA as products that are ingested — “specifically, they must be swallowed,” the agency says.
Bottom Line
It’s hard to know what’s truly in the patches, what those ingredients do when they’re absorbed by the skin and what risks consumers may be taking by using them, White warns.
“It’s really hard to lose weight, and a lot of people might need a medication or surgery or another medical intervention because obesity is a disease,” Jay adds.
“But this is not the answer.”