Amanda Bonello · ACE Certified Health Coach, Weight Management specialization, advanced training in anti-obesity medication
Litigation consulting · Expert witness
The patient side of GLP-1 litigation.
I help attorneys understand how patients actually get GLP-1 medications, pay for them, lose access to them and learn about their side effects. Since 2024 I have tracked the patient side of semaglutide and tirzepatide through a national patient community, a daily GLP-1 legal tracker and patient connections for national newsrooms.
I explain how GLP-1 patients actually get, pay for, lose and learn about these medications, for attorneys working on GLP-1 cases.
How it works
A conflict check, a written engagement and a retainer, then hourly consulting behind the scenes. Reports and testimony when a case needs them.
Why it helps
Better questions in discovery, better-prepared patient witnesses, and facts a judge or jury can follow. Medical questions stay with physicians.
On GLP-1 access inReuters · CNBC · WIRED · USA Today · Politico · Fast Company · Marketplace · Danish Broadcasting Corporation
Areas of expertise
What I explain to attorneys
Consulting expert work behind the scenes, and testifying expert work where the case calls for it.
Access and coverage
Prior authorizations, denials, appeals, employer and Medicaid coverage changes, and what patients do when coverage ends.
Compounded and grey-market supply
How and why patients turned to compounded and unregulated GLP-1s during and after the shortages, and what they understood about the risks.
Cost and affordability
Out-of-pocket prices, cash-pay programs, and patients stopping treatment because of cost.
Patient information sources
Where patients learn about these medications and their side effects: online communities, social media and clinicians.
I do not give opinions on medical diagnosis or on whether a drug caused a specific injury. Those questions belong to physicians.
Where I help
What it looks like in a case
Example scenarios based on the kinds of GLP-1 cases on the public docket. They are illustrations, not past clients.
Advertising and compounding
A drug manufacturer sues a med spa, claiming its ads for compounded semaglutide led patients to believe they were buying the brand-name drug.
The question
What did patients actually understand when they bought it?
What I bring
How patients shopped for compounded GLP-1s during the shortages, what they knew about compounding, and why they chose it, drawn from years of patient conversations and public comments.
What the legal team gets
A grounded picture of patient understanding, and sharper questions for the other side's consumer survey.
Product liability
A patient says they were never warned about a serious stomach side effect.
The question
What were patients told, and where did they learn about side effects?
What I bring
How information really reaches patients: telehealth intake forms, online communities, social media and short appointments, and why many push through nausea or do not report it.
What the legal team gets
Better discovery requests and a patient witness who is prepared for a deposition. Causation stays with the physicians.
Pricing and competition
A lawsuit claims a manufacturer's pricing tactics kept cheaper options off the market.
The question
What would patients have done if cheaper options had been available?
What I bring
What patients paid, how many stopped or rationed doses because of cost, and how they switched between brand, compounded and cash-pay options.
What the legal team gets
A realistic account of patient behavior to support the damages picture.
Coverage and denials
An employee sues after their health plan drops GLP-1 coverage in the middle of treatment.
The question
What does losing coverage actually do to a patient?
What I bring
How prior authorizations and appeals work in practice, and what follows a loss of coverage: rationing, regain, and turning to unregulated sources.
What the legal team gets
The harm explained in terms a judge can follow.
Health data privacy
A weight-loss app is accused of sharing users' health information.
The question
Why is this information so sensitive to these users?
What I bring
The weight stigma GLP-1 patients face, and what they reasonably expect from an app that holds their weight and medication data.
What the legal team gets
Context for why the disclosure mattered to the people affected.
In the media
Speaking for patients on GLP-1 access
National news, public radio and international broadcasters have come to me to explain what losing access to these medications means for patients. Newsrooms including The New York Times, NBC News and Business Insider have asked me to connect them with patients.
National news
May 2025
ReutersPatients struggling after the compounding crackdown
Petition for affordable GLP-1 access, with 400 personal patient comments, filed with the FDA and USPTO.
Daily legal tracking
GLP-1 Laws follows the bills, lawsuits and FDA actions shaping GLP-1 access, every day.
A national patient community
Co-founder of the GLP-1 community Cozy Butter and its research arm, Butter Health.
GLP-1 lawsuits
Every federal GLP-1 case, tracked daily
Product liability, patent challenges over generics, compounding and trademark cases, privacy, securities and challenges to FDA decisions, grouped by type and linked to the court record.
I have been on a GLP-1 medication myself since 2024. When patients started losing access that year, I started a petition that reached 27,000 signatures with 400 personal comments, and I founded the GLP-1 Collective, a nonprofit for patients. Everything I have built since then is about the patient side of these medicines.
Billed hourly against a retainer. Fees never depend on the outcome of a case.
1
Conflict check
You share the parties and the issue. I confirm I can take the matter.
2
Engagement letter
Scope, rates and a retainer are agreed in writing.
3
Review and consult
Records, questions for patient witnesses, and plain-language explanations.
4
Report and testimony
A written report, deposition or trial testimony when the case calls for it.
Questions
How this works
What is a patient-experience consultant?+
Someone who knows, in detail, how patients actually live with a treatment: how they get it, pay for it, lose it, talk about it and decide what to trust. I bring that knowledge to attorneys working on GLP-1 cases, so their questions, witnesses and arguments match how patients really behave.
How is this different from a medical expert?+
A medical expert answers medical questions, such as whether a drug caused an injury. I do not. I explain the patient side: access, coverage, cost, compounded and grey-market supply, and where patients learn about side effects. The two roles fit together, and many cases need both.
Why does the patient side matter in a case?+
Judges and juries decide cases about people. Knowing why patients chose compounded medications, what they were told, what they paid and what happened when coverage ended helps attorneys ask better questions in discovery, prepare patient witnesses, and explain the facts in plain language.
What kinds of cases is this useful for?+
Cases involving compounding pharmacies and med spas, GLP-1 product liability, insurance coverage and denials, pricing and consumer protection, and health data privacy in GLP-1 apps and telehealth.
What is the difference between a consulting expert and a testifying expert?+
A consulting expert works behind the scenes with the legal team and is usually not named in the case. A testifying expert writes a report and can be questioned in a deposition or at trial. Most of my work starts as consulting; testimony is available when the case calls for it.
How does an engagement work and how is it billed?+
You share the parties and the issue, I run a conflict check, and we agree on scope, rates and a retainer in writing. Work is billed hourly against the retainer. My fees never depend on the outcome of a case.
Are you an attorney or a doctor?+
Neither. I am a GLP-1 patient, an ACE Certified Health Coach with a weight management specialization and advanced training in anti-obesity medication, and a patient advocate. I do not give legal or medical advice.
How quickly can you start?+
Send the parties and the issue through the contact form. I usually reply within two business days with the result of the conflict check.
Industry briefings
Calls and written briefings for investors, analysts and expert networks on GLP-1 access, coverage and the patient market.
Speaking and employer education
Talks for libraries, conferences and employers on GLP-1 medications, coverage and patient self-advocacy.
Disclaimer:GLP-1 Consultant, a GLP-1 Studio LLC service, provides litigation consulting, expert witness, briefing and education services only. Amanda Bonello is not an attorney. Nothing on this site or in the client portal is medical, clinical, legal, regulatory, tax, accounting, or investment advice. No professional-client relationship of that kind is created, and no content here is a substitute for advice from a licensed professional. Please don't submit patient or protected health information. See our Terms and Privacy Policy. GLP-1 Consultant is a service of GLP-1 Studio LLC. Bright Rowan is an independent firm owned and operated by Christie Clutter. The scope, responsibilities, contracting parties, and fees for each engagement are defined in the applicable proposal and agreement. Compounded GLP-1 medications are not FDA-approved. The FDA has not reviewed compounded semaglutide, tirzepatide or other compounded GLP-1 products for safety, effectiveness or quality, and they are not equivalent to FDA-approved drugs. Information is accurate to the best of our knowledge at the time of writing. Medications, coverage rules and the news around them change quickly, and pages are not always updated the moment something changes. Views expressed by anyone other than GLP-1 Studio are their own. Their appearance here is not an endorsement, and it does not imply an affiliate, sponsorship or business relationship.
