A Minnesota bill to protect health data never got a hearing

A Minnesota bill that would have given consumer health data, which can include records tied to GLP-1 prescriptions, stronger legal protection as sensitive information never got a committee hearing before the 2026 session ended. At the same time, a new obesity drug called ASC35, from China's Ascletis, has begun its first human safety trial in the United States. Neither development changes what you can get today, but both point to where prescribing and data practices may be headed. If you take or are considering a GLP-1 medication, it is worth watching how your prescription information is handled and what new options may eventually reach the market.

Minnesota Senate File 2940 would have amended the state's Data Privacy Act so that consumer health data, which can include prescription records for drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Zepbound, is classified as sensitive data with additional legal safeguards. That change would have raised the bar for who can access this information and under what conditions. The bill was introduced on March 24, 2025, and sent to the Senate commerce committee, but it never got a hearing, and the session adjourned in May 2026 without action on it. For now, Minnesota residents do not get this added protection. Other states may still consider similar protections of their own.

ASC35 is now recruiting 84 participants with obesity or overweight for a Phase 1 trial in the United States, where researchers will evaluate its safety, tolerability, and how the drug behaves in the body. This is the earliest stage of human testing, meaning the primary goal is to confirm the drug does not cause unacceptable harm and to understand basic dosing patterns, not to prove it works as a long-term treatment. Phase 1 trials like this one typically involve a small group of participants and take place before any larger studies test effectiveness. Because ASC35 targets the GLP-1 and GIP hormones, it may work through a similar biological pathway as existing approved medications, though the trial has not yet established how it compares to them. Reaching the market, if it gets there at all, would require several more years of testing beyond this first phase.

Taken together, these two developments show that GLP-1 access is being shaped on two different fronts at once. On one side, states are weighing how closely your prescription history can be tracked and shared, though Minnesota's bill did not advance. On the other, drug developers are testing whether new options will eventually join the current lineup of treatments. Neither change affects your care today, so there is no need to act on either one right now. If you want to stay informed, it may help to check in periodically on how your state handles health data privacy and to ask your prescriber about any new treatment options as they move through testing.

By Amanda Bonello