By Kristen Youngdahl

As a pharmacist in Colorado, I am proud of the opportunity I have to work with patients consulting them on their specific medical situation and serving as a valuable partner to their overall health. As a trusted partner, I recognize every patient’s needs are uniquely their own. This is why I am concerned to see the Colorado state legislature considering legislation, SB 26-066, which creates severe restrictions for weight loss medications including GLP-1s, and sets a dangerous precedent for medications in general.   

Compounding is a critical part of meeting patient needs for the proper medications, helping address unique medical challenges when mass-produced medications do not work. Whether it’s allergies or intolerance to specific ingredients, compounding provides a critical lifeline. Across health care, pharmacists regularly work with prescribers to individualize medications when one-size-fits-all products do not work.

As members of the communities we serve, we know above all else safety is our top priority. That is why our team works so carefully with the patients, their doctors, local hospitals and other providers to ensure we operate at the highest standards.

SB 26-066 constrains the medical judgment of a prescriber, in the name of safety. It claims to provide safety enhancements, but in reality it sets one-size-fits-all requirements for an industry created specifically to solve problems when one size does not fit all. The bill adds layers of reporting and requirements in the name of safety, but they are designed by big drug manufacturers to create more roadblocks to patient care. This is why SB 26-066, and any legislation like it that limits access to specific, necessary medications needs to be rejected.

Though this bill focuses on weight loss medications, its effect could be much further reaching. SB 26-066 contains technical requirements that are impossible to meet, creating barriers and restrictions that will hurt every corner of our medical community.

The most damaging part of the bill requires some ingredients used in a compounded medication come from a facility that has passed an FDA inspection within the last two years. On paper, this might look like a standard safety measure, but in the real world, it is a catch-22. The reality is the FDA does not guarantee an inspection cycle every two years. They often face significant backlogs and prioritize their limited resources based on their own internal schedules.

If this bill becomes law, perfectly safe, pharmaceutical-grade ingredients will effectively become illegal in Colorado by default because a federal agency’s schedule did not align with a state deadline. This will not just affect weight loss drugs. It will attack the entire infrastructure of medical compounding. Take drug shortages as an example. When an FDA-approved medication goes into shortage, the medical need for that drug does not pause. Patients do not get healthier while waiting. 

In those moments, physicians and pharmacists make patient-specific decisions to preserve continuity of care when the commercial supply chain fails. Compounding pharmacies support that care by preparing medications a prescriber has determined are medically appropriate for an individual patient. That is how compounding pharmacies became involved with therapies for weight loss management in the first place: to carry out physician-directed treatment when standardized options were unavailable. 

Proponents may suggest this is a narrow focus applying only to GLP-1s. What they are not telling you is they are creating precedents that take decisions away from patients, physicians and pharmacists and put them in the hands of global drug makers and government officials. They also claim the need for compounded medications for weight loss are no longer needed, because supply is now able to meet demand, but that too is unrealistic. Even after shortages are declared “resolved,” pharmacies continue to experience local disruptions. When patients are forced to stop and restart any therapy, the effects are real. In the case of weight loss medications, blood sugar control worsens. Weight rebounds. Long-term health suffers.

Compounding pharmacies help prevent those interruptions under existing federal law, state licensure and board oversight. When violations occur, regulators already have the authority to act. 

I urge Colorado legislators to oppose SB26-066 and preserve what’s in the best interest for the residents of Colorado. 

Dr. Kristen Youngdahl, PharmD, is chief operating officer of Colorado-based Belmar Pharma Solutions. Dr. Youngdahl has been a licensed compounding pharmacist in Colorado since 2015. As Belmar’s COO, she helps manage the 250 staff members working in Colorado.