Gym users are buying unapproved retatrutide online before Lilly's launch

Business Insider reported on Aug. 30, 2025, that people in gym and bodybuilding circles are already buying and injecting retatrutide, an experimental Eli Lilly weight-loss drug that the Food and Drug Administration has not approved ^[1]. The reporting describes a gray market that grew on TikTok, YouTube, Reddit and Instagram well before the drug has any legal path to patients ^[1].

Retatrutide is a GLP-1 drug in the same family as Ozempic (semaglutide) and Mounjaro (tirzepatide), but it mimics three hunger hormones — GLP, GIP and glucagon — while drugs on the market target one or two ^[1]. Doctors and researchers have joked that it is the "King Kong" of weight loss, and early trial results suggest it rivals bariatric surgery and may protect more lean muscle mass ^[1]. Lilly has not finished its clinical trials, and the earliest the drug could reach the market is late 2026, with 2027 more likely ^[1]. Because it is not approved, doctors cannot prescribe it and pharmacies cannot sell it ^[1].

How people are getting it

Buyers order powder labeled "reta" or "ret" from research labs, which are legally allowed to make compounds for research only. The products carry a warning that they are "not for human consumption" ^[1]. Some sites sell the bacteriostatic water and syringes needed to mix doses at home ^[1].

Julian Becerra, 24, first saw retatrutide in social media posts from bodybuilder Dawson Weiss. He bought powder online, mixed it with water and injected it into his muscles, following what bodybuilders described. For about a month he injected half a milligram a week, and said he lost the urge to snack while still having energy to work out ^[1]. He later co-founded Overtime Men's Health in Tampa, Florida, which sources retatrutide from a compounding company's "sister company" ^[1].

Max Radovanic, 22, lost 230 pounds over about two and a half years, first through dieting and then with semaglutide and retatrutide. He said his insurance stopped covering his semaglutide pill, Rybelsus, once he had lost weight. He then found compounded semaglutide and later retatrutide through a peptide website, and now sells reta in bulk from a warehouse in Colorado, saying he has thousands of customers across North America ^[1]. His listings also include cagrilintide, an unapproved Novo Nordisk drug, and a blend of cagrilintide and retatrutide ^[1].

Bodybuilders drove much of the early interest. Mr. Olympia competitor Nick "The Mutant" Walker posted this year that he used it before major shows and that it worked "tremendously"; he won the men's open division of the New York Pro 2025 competition in May. Podcaster Derek Munro was another early voice ^[1]. The practice took off in the summer of 2024, when sites selling research peptides began catering to gymgoers ^[1].

Why it matters for patients

Retatrutide is not approved, so no pharmacy can fill a prescription for it. Anything sold as retatrutide comes from sellers acting outside FDA oversight, and the groups that oversee US compounding — the Alliance for Pharmacy Compounding and the Outsourcing Facilities Association — said compounding pharmacies play no role in this trade because retatrutide is not an approved drug ^[1].

The FDA says people should buy drugs from licensed pharmacies with valid prescriptions. A Brookings report earlier this year found that most counterfeit GLP-1 drugs come from wholesale manufacturers in China, outside US oversight, and the FDA has had limited success catching knock-offs at the border ^[1]. Doctors say they are warning patients that they do not know what they are getting. Unregulated drugs are often dosed inconsistently and have been found to carry contaminants such as formaldehyde ^[1].

What is in any given vial, what dose a buyer actually receives, and what the long-term risks of retatrutide are in people without a prescription have not been reported ^[1].

Eli Lilly told Business Insider that "anyone purporting to sell retatrutide for human use is breaking the law," adding: "No one should consider taking anything claiming to be retatrutide outside of a Lilly-sponsored clinical trial" ^[1]. Novo Nordisk, which makes Ozempic, said attempts by compounders to evade the law or abuse "grey-areas" are not acceptable ^[1].

What happens next

Lilly is still running clinical trials. The earliest retatrutide could reach the market is late 2026, and 2027 is seen as more likely ^[1]. TikTok recently began banning videos that promote retatrutide, though creators have made new accounts and labs continue to operate under the radar ^[1].