EXCLUSIVE: Eli Lilly gave compassionate use access to retatrutide, their unapproved powerful obesity drug, to a 79-year-old man in April. The application was arranged by a top doctor at NIH, and cleared by the FDA.
statnews.com/2026/06/23/eli…
statnews.com/2026/06/23/eli…
Sources told STAT that application drew interest from top health officials. Given the demographics and the peculiar nature of the application, I asked the WH if this patient was President Trump, who turned 80 a week ago. I did not get a direct answer.
During the Covid-19 pandemic, Trump was notably one of the first people administered an antibody treatment from Regeneron after he contracted the virus, via this same compassionate use pathway.
18 bioethics experts, obesity clinicians, and current and former government officials told me the application struck them as unusual. They questioned why Lilly would offer compassionate use for a single patient when obesity is such a widespread condition.
Lilly posted its program for retatrutide in early June, but unlike postings for other drugs, it contains no information about the disease conditions or which patients might qualify. "Only people in the know would be able to find this," an expert said. clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT07629…
• • •
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to
force a refresh
