Michigan man sentenced to prison for selling weight-loss drugs from China

A Michigan man is headed to prison for selling misbranded weight-loss drugs imported from China, federal prosecutors said. 

Brandon Piper, a 35-year-old man from Gobles, was sentenced on Tuesday to 21 months in prison. 

According to the United States Attorney's Office, he sold misbranded and unapproved drugs on a Canadian website and his personal website. The sites asserted the drugs were "for research purposes only," but authorities claim Piper and his associates knew customers would be using them for personal use.

Authorities charged him with conspiracy to introduce misbranded drugs into the market with the intent to defraud and mislead consumers and the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

Drugs sold on the website included semaglutide and tirzepatide, which require a prescription from a licensed practitioner to purchase.

However, Piper sold the drugs without obtaining prescriptions from customers and they were shipped without adequate directions for use, prosecutors allege. 

The FDA requires that semaglutide and tirzepatide products contain "black box warnings," which indicate the drug's significant risk of serious or life-threatening negative effects, but Piper's drugs failed to include those warnings. 

U.S. Attorney Timothy Verhey emphasized the public health threat Piper's business posed.

"By going around the prescription requirement, he made drugs available to his customers that are dangerous – and even deadly – when used improperly," Verhey said. "Also, the foreign drugs Piper was selling lacked any kind of quality control and could have contained anything."