.png)
57 minutes ago
6
Legislation aimed at cracking down on foreign‑origin pharmaceutical drugs and the employment of illegal alien workers has stalled, even as scrutiny intensifies over Mochi Health and its previous distribution of potentially dangerous weight‑loss drugs tied to China.
State records obtained last year by KING 5 showed that components of drugs, including illegal Chinese drugs, sold by the telehealth company were illegally imported from China by a Washington‑based compounding facility, Aequita Pharmacy. The facility allegedly manufactured those ingredients into copycat versions of popular GLP‑1 weight‑loss drugs, including Ozempic and Wegovy.
Former employees told KING 5 that Aequita directed unlicensed workers to compound raw ingredients, including Chinese drugs, imported from China into injectable medications.
“That’s not part of my licensing,” one former employee said he told his manager at the facility. “I immediately was like, ‘No, I can’t do that.’”
Studies have found that drugs manufactured in countries such as China and India carry a 54% higher risk of serious side effects compared with U.S.‑made equivalents.
The Washington State Department of Health shut down Aequita in March of last year, citing violations that posed “serious harm, serious impairment or death” to patients, according to KING 5.
Mochi Health, however, was not shut down alongside Aequita. Instead, the company shifted to other compounding facilities and continues to operate.
More than a year after Aequita’s shutdown, Mochi Health remains under scrutiny—not only for previously purchasing products from the facility, but also for allegedly owning it.
Last week, NBC Bay Area reporter Candice Nguyen confronted Mochi Health CEO Myra Ahmad at a conference where she was scheduled to speak.
“We’ve been trying to reach you about some of the issues at one of Mochi’s pharmacies in Washington,” Nguyen said. “We want to ask about some of the serious findings by the state of Washington.”
“No, thank you,” Ahmad replied, before turning away.
Ahmad has sought to downplay the relationship between Mochi Health and Aequita, describing it as merely a partnership. But more than a dozen former Aequita employees told KING 5 Seattle that the companies appeared functionally inseparable.
“It’s interesting how they’ve tried to separate Mochi and Aequita,” one former pharmacy assistant said. “But working there, it really did seem like it was just one company.”
Records reviewed by KING 5 also indicate that Aequita hired illegal alien workers, including, according to those records, day laborers recruited from Home Depot parking lots.
What Will Washington Do About It?
In Congress, Sen. Rick Scott, R‑Fla., and Sen. Kristen Gillibrand, D‑N.Y., introduced legislation in January that would require pharmaceutical sellers to disclose a drug’s country of origin. The measure aims to prevent fraudulent merchants from marketing foreign‑made products as American‑made and FDA‑approved.
“Families want to feel safe; they want to know the drugs they take are safe, and they want to support American companies and American jobs,” Scott said in a press release. “It is alarming just how many medicines Americans depend on are made overseas, in places like Communist China and India with limited transparency and oversight, leaving patients blindsided about where their drugs come from and unknowingly putting themselves at increased risk of death.”
The CLEAR Labels Act has not yet been scheduled for a vote in the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions.
Separately, House lawmakers have advanced legislation and executive efforts aimed at deporting and restricting illegal aliens who enter the United States in search of cheap labor.
For example, Rep. Stephanie Bice, R‑Okla., has introduced legislation to bar and increase penalties for the reentry of illegal aliens. The bill is awaiting consideration in the House Judiciary Committee.
Rep. Mike Kennedy, R-Utah, introduced similar legislation in May of 2025.
English (US)