Retatrutide isn’t supposed to be everywhere.
Touted as the next generation in the GLP-1 craze, it’s an experimental weight-loss drug that is not authorized outside of clinical trials. The Food and Drug Administration hasn’t reviewed whether it is safe and effective, which is the legal path for prescription drugs to come to market. And yet retatrutide is for sale all over the internet, a phenomenon with no modern precedent.
It isn’t just shadowy online vendors offering what they claim to be research-grade retatrutide. A CBS News investigation found dozens of clinics across the country, staffed by licensed physicians and nurse practitioners, openly advertising retatrutide. That practice defies a longstanding norm in medicine – to wait for the FDA to approve a drug before prescribing it – and is contributing to a booming commercial marketplace for a drug that is barred from sale by federal law.
“GET STARTED WITH RETATRUTIDE THERAPY TODAY,” proclaims the website of Wellness IV Infusion Therapy in Florida.
“Our Retatrutide is 15% off right now—but not for long,” Truform Longevity Center in Maine posted on Instagram in March.
“The results look amazing,” Stephen Spain, a physician in Tyler, Texas, said in a video posted on his website, acknowledging that retatrutide isn’t approved by the FDA but promoting it as less expensive and more effective than the best weight-loss drugs on the market.
CBS News identified more than 120 websites selling or promoting retatrutide, including more than 50 clinics staffed by licensed medical professionals. After being contacted by CBS News, at least 21 clinics abruptly removed retatrutide from their websites or changed the language to state they don’t offer it. Others defended prescribing it, saying they’re confident enough in results from clinical trials sponsored by drugmaker Eli Lilly that they didn’t need to wait for the FDA’s independent, rigorous review.