The FDA has received reports in recent months that two people died after taking illicit products claiming to be retatrutide, Eli Lilly’s experimental weight loss drug, according to FDA documents reviewed by CBS News in an Oct. 13 report.
The first death was reported in July. A healthcare professional told the FDA that a 41-year-old woman with obesity went into cardiac arrest, and the report lists retatrutide as a suspect product obtained from “an unreliable source.” In September, the agency received a report that a 49-year-old patient died of cardiac arrest after severe dehydration and malnutrition. The report says a licensed nurse sold her vials from an online peptide vendor and recommended dosages. CBS News said they appear to be the first public accounts in the U.S. alleging retatrutide, or products claiming to contain it, played a role in a death.
The reports were submitted to the FDA’s Adverse Event Reporting System and obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request. The FDA declined to say whether it has verified either one, and Lilly told CBS News neither case was connected to a clinical trial. Lilly said the reports “make clear” the individuals were taking black-market retatrutide and said it has found suspect products with the wrong amount of active ingredient and contaminants.
Lilly has been suing sellers of the drug, filing six lawsuits in August against compounding pharmacies, medical spas and online sellers. It has also reported more than 14,000 listings to authorities and plans to submit retatrutide for approval in early 2027. Most recently, Lilly sued five companies Oct. 8 that it accuses of selling illicit retatrutide: American Peptides, LiveWell Peptides, Cenexa Labs, Medrein Health & Aesthetics and Medshape Weight Loss Clinic. A Lilly spokesperson told The Washington Post it has settled two of the August cases, including with Texas Peptides, which agreed to stop selling the products, advise customers to stop taking them and donate an undisclosed amount to America’s Poison Centers, which logged 862 exposures to retatrutide in the three months ending in September, up from 460 in the prior three months and 249 in the first three months of 2026, according to CBS News.
The unapproved market is growing, with reports estimating a $100 million annual run rate for gray-market peptides, including vials labeled as retatrutide sold in Brooklyn bodegas. Patient safety groups ECRI and ISMP have warned that safety gaps around peptide compounding remain unresolved.
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