A powerful new obesity drug, retatrutide, is being sold illegally on the black market by influencers before official approval, raising safety concerns.
Retatrutide's black market demand
A molecule called retatrutide, often referred to as the "King Kong" of anti-obesity drugs, is being sold in large quantities on the black market by influencers, despite not having received regulatory approval.Mechanism of retatrutide
Retatrutide, currently being developed by the American laboratory Eli Lilly, targets three receptors to mimic three natural intestinal and pancreatic hormones: GLP-1, GIP, and Glucagon, which act on appetite, blood sugar, and energy metabolism. This is a novelty, as current drugs target only one or two of these receptors.Regulatory timeline for retatrutide
Eli Lilly has announced the filing of a marketing application with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) in the first quarter of 2027. Marketing in the United States could take place by the end of 2027, with a European launch in 2028.Black market sales through influencers
These sales go through research laboratories, often in China, which have the right to produce retatrutide for research but not the right to commercialize it. To sell their illegal goods, these sellers rely on particularly influential intermediaries: fitness influencers.Influencer promotion of retatrutide
One of the influencers, Jon Kluth, has more than 237,000 followers on TikTok and promotes retatrutide as "reta" or "ret," linking to a sales page. Another influencer, Dawson Weiss, claims retatrutide allows for less loss of lean muscle mass and directs followers to an online store called "Vayn" where it is sold under the name "GLP-3."Black market sales in France
In France, accounts presented under the names of "doctors" or "pharmacy" highlight sales links or directly provide WhatsApp numbers on TikTok. There, users share before-and-after videos of taking these products, sometimes using artificial intelligence, and show "customers" receiving their packages or the "usage instructions" for these treatments.Risks of black market retatrutide
The French National Agency for Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) warns that the risks of these "fraudulent peptides" are "higher with injectable products," noting possible side effects such as nausea, vomiting, discomfort, liver damage, infections, or severe allergic reactions.Legal actions against black market sellers
Last July, the ANSM issued a "health police decision" against Azentra, an illegal reseller of retatrutide, the second in two months after a first warning for the sale of an injector pen for a copy of retatrutide, the FastPen 40 mg.Effectiveness of black market retatrutide
A recent study, published in August, indicates that users of unverified retatrutide online lost 7.2% of their weight after one year, compared to 15.5% for those in Eli Lilly's clinical trial. This raises the question of the real effectiveness of these treatments in parallel sales circuits.
