Millions of Americans struggling from obesity and suffering from its side effects are looking to get their hands on Eli Lilly’s newest – and most powerful – weight loss drug. But so far, only one person, outside of government sanctioned experiments, is allowed to take retatrutide, with the help of the Food and Drug Administration’s expanded access program, according to STAT News.
Better known as “compassionate use,” the program gives patients with serious or life-threatening health issues access to experimental drugs outside of a trial setting if nothing else is working for them or there is no other option.
But who is the lucky patient?
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What we know about the patient
STAT reported that three sources confirmed the patient is a man who was 79 years old in April, when the request was made. The sources said the approval drew the interest of some of the nation’s top health officials, leading them to believe the patient is “well connected.”
Ranganath Muniyappa, a senior clinician at the National Institutes of Health, reportedly requested access to the drug for a patient who has refractory obesity — a more severe form of obesity — along with sleep apnea and pulmonary hypertension. Pulmonary hypertension can be life-threatening as it causes high blood pressure in the lungs.
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Retatrutide is a triple agonist that builds on current weight-loss injections by targeting the GLP-1, GIP and glucagon receptors, according to Eli Lilly.
Is it President Trump?
Some critical details have stirred speculation on the patient’s identity: President Donald Trump.
Trump was 79 in April — he turned 80 just this month — and he is certainly well connected and overweight, although his BMI is reportedly just below the threshold for clinical obesity. His latest medical report did not include diagnoses of sleep apnea or pulmonary hypertension.
Still, Trump has been a vocal proponent for expanding access to weight loss drugs by lowering prices.
When asked by The New York Times in January whether he had ever taken a GLP-1, Trump said he had not, but added, “I probably should.”
The White House denies Trump is the patient, with a senior spokesperson calling out the STAT reporter who wrote the article on social media by name and saying her report amounted to “baseless speculation.”
“Because this has to be spelled out for @LizzyLaw, who has proven herself to be an unserious gossip columnist, this application was not for the President,” White House senior deputy press secretary Kush Desai said in a post on X.
Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, also decried the STAT News report in a social media post, attacking its writer as well.
“You thought this was your big shot, but in reality, you’re just a big idiot,” he wrote. “You certainly made a name for yourself by completely embarrassing yourself at the expense of being thirsty for clicks and peddling falsehoods.”
Speculation swirls
Despite the White House denials, speculation centering on Trump as the patient continues to swirl.
Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., sent a letter to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., expressing concerns that the FDA had granted access to the experimental drug to a “well-connected individual.”
“I am deeply concerned by new reporting that suggests you may be bending the rules of a federal program, and exerting improper political pressure, in order to provide a well-connected individual with free access to an exclusive prescription drug,” she wrote in the letter, which she shared with MS NOW.
“This decision to bend the rules comes as millions of Americans are clamoring for access to these kinds of life-changing drugs and are often struggling to pay for them,” she said.
In an interview with the outlet, Hassan added: “We’ve got somebody highly connected in this administration who’s making special deals for one person and it just speaks to the whole way this administration operates. They’re thinking about the highly connected, the wealthy.”
And Hassan isn’t the only one raising the red flag. After Trump announced Wednesday he will not sign a newly-passed affordable housing bill, Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., suggested the decision could have been made due to “side effects from a drug.”
“This erratic behavior of the president is very concerning,” Lieu said. “He has trouble staying awake at multiple White House events and cabinet meetings, he has, clearly, some weakness in one of his arms, he’s got swelling in his hands, and the White House needs to come clean.”
Lieu went so far as to suggest — without evidence — that Trump may be dying, saying the “compassionate use” provision means the patient “basically has a terminal illness.”
“So, we need to know: did Donald Trump get this special drug from Eli Lilly and did he get it under that provision and if he did, why is that the case?” Lieu said.
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