The Food and Drug Administration received reports in recent months that two people died after taking bootleg versions of retatrutide, an experimental Eli Lilly weight-loss drug that has not been approved, according to documents reviewed by CBS News.
The reports do not prove the drug caused either death. CBS News said the details are unverified and it is unclear whether the drug was to blame, and the FDA declined to say whether it had verified them.
In July, a healthcare professional reported that a 41-year-old woman with obesity went into cardiac arrest. The report listed retatrutide as a “suspect product” obtained “from an unreliable source” and said she was drinking kava at the time.
In September, the FDA received a report that a 49-year-old patient died after a licensed nurse “convinced” her to buy retatrutide from an online peptide vendor.
Eli Lilly said the reports “make clear the two individuals were taking black-market retatrutide.” Federal law prohibits commercial sale of unapproved drugs.
America’s Poison Centers logged 862 reported exposures to retatrutide in the three months ending in September, up from 460 in the prior three months.
Harvard Medical School’s Pieter Cohen said the FDA should obtain and analyze the actual drug both patients injected.
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