Reports to the US medicines regulator describe two people who died after taking products sold as retatrutide. The drug is still in clinical trials, and it has not been proven to have caused either death.
Two deaths have been reported to the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) after people took bootleg versions of retatrutide, the experimental weight-loss injection nicknamed “reta”. The products claimed to be the drug, which is nearing the end of clinical trials but has not been approved by the agency. The cases appear to be the first public accounts of this kind of unauthorised use in the US. They were logged in the FDA’s Adverse Event Reporting System. The reports describe suspected reactions and do not show that the drug caused either death.
The two reports
The first death occurred in July and involved a 41-year-old woman with obesity who suffered cardiac arrest. A healthcare professional’s report to the FDA listed retatrutide as a “suspect product” and said she had obtained it “from an unreliable source”.
The agency received a second report in September, concerning a 49-year-old patient who died after a licensed nurse “convinced” her to buy the drug from an online peptide vendor. She experienced severe dehydration, malnutrition and cardiac arrest.
An image from the report suggested that the medication came from a company called AlphaLabs, which sells peptides labelled “research use only”, according to screenshots from its website. The FDA said: “We review adverse event reports, gathering additional information when needed.” It added that it “generally does not discuss potential or ongoing compliance matters”.
What the reports do not show
The FDA’s database holds reports of suspected reactions, not medically verified cases of drug-induced harm. The contents of neither product has been independently established, and no toxicological cause has been made public. Neither case came from Eli Lilly’s authorised trials. The accurate description is two deaths reported after the use of products sold as retatrutide, not two deaths caused by it.
Previous investigations have found the drug sold on wellness websites, at health spas and even in Brooklyn bodegas. Independent laboratories failed to find any retatrutide in some of those products. According to Public Citizen, at least 14 people have been hospitalised after taking grey-market versions.
The drug and the clinical evidence
Retatrutide is the first of its kind to target three metabolic receptors: GLP-1, GIP and glucagon. It has produced far greater weight loss than blockbuster drugs such as Ozempic and Mounjaro. Researchers reported in May that users lost up to 28% of their body weight over 80 weeks.
Eli Lilly’s trials, which relate to the investigational medicine and not to products bought online, reported the following:
| Trial | Reported result |
|---|---|
| TRIUMPH-1 | Average weight reduction of 28.3% at 80 weeks on the highest dose |
| TRIUMPH-2 | Average reduction of 20.8% in people with type 2 diabetes |
| TRIUMPH-3 | Average reduction of 22.6% in people with severe obesity and cardiovascular disease |
The company also reported improvements in sleep apnoea and knee osteoarthritis pain. In a July news release, it said serious heart-related reactions “occurred less frequently than anticipated” among patients who received retatrutide, as well as those given a placebo. It also said the drug reduced certain measures of cardiovascular risk.
Eli Lilly said in July that it plans to apply for FDA approval in the first quarter of 2027. An application does not guarantee approval, and no launch date has been announced.
Enforcement and the grey market
The FDA has warned that retatrutide cannot be used in compounded medicines under federal law, and it has warned telehealth companies, ingredient distributors and outsourcing facilities. A “research use only” label does not show that a vial is safe to inject or contains what is advertised.
A June investigation by the consumer group Public Citizen found that the FDA had issued 14 warning letters to retatrutide sellers since 2024. By May 2026, 11 of those businesses were still advertising retatrutide or other unapproved peptides, and eight were still offering retatrutide itself. Some vendors used social media influencers to promote products described as being for laboratory research only.
CBS News reported figures from America’s Poison Centers showing that reported retatrutide exposures more than tripled between the first and third quarters of 2026, from 249 to 862. An exposure report does not mean someone was poisoned, needed hospital treatment or took the genuine drug.
The picture in the UK
British authorities have also been acting. On 14 October, officers raided an industrial unit in Birmingham and recovered more than 12,000 fake retatrutide and tirzepatide injection pens. They also found packaging for about 30,000 more products. The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), which announced the operation on 15 October, put the value at about £2m. It described the warehouse as filthy and warned that the contents of the products could not be guaranteed. Retatrutide is not authorised in Britain and cannot lawfully be sold to the public as a weight-loss medicine.
It follows other raids this year. About 2,000 doses and manufacturing equipment were seized in February. In May, around 12,000 doses were recovered at a country estate and two people were arrested. The Times reported on 10 October that about 50,000 fake retatrutide doses had been seized in Britain, with suspected production in Northamptonshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire. The newspaper said investigators found inconsistent dosages and possible contamination, and that Eli Lilly had identified more than 14,000 illegal retatrutide listings worldwide. These totals may overlap and should not be added together.
A July 2026 investigation by The BMJ found that the MHRA’s Yellow Card scheme had received 77 adverse-event cases involving retatrutide, 59 of them reporting serious harm and one a death, of a man in his 30s. The BMJ said the information did not show whether retatrutide caused the death or whether the product was genuine.
