Patients ask us about retatrutide most weeks now, usually after seeing it advertised online at a price that looks too good to be true. The short answer is that we do not offer it, and we will not until it is legal to do so.
Here is the longer answer, because you deserve to know the reasoning rather than just the policy.
What retatrutide actually is
Retatrutide is an experimental weight-loss drug being developed by Eli Lilly. It works on three receptors rather than the one or two that current medications target, and in clinical trials it has produced weight loss comparable to bariatric surgery. Those results are genuinely striking, which is exactly why there is so much interest in it.
But it is still experimental. No regulatory agency anywhere in the world has approved retatrutide for use. Lilly has said it expects to file for FDA approval next year. Until that process finishes, there is no approved manufacturer, no approved dose, and no approved way to prescribe it.
So where is everyone getting it?
From sellers who are not allowed to sell it.
In August 2026, Lilly filed six lawsuits against companies it says were selling untested versions of retatrutide as a weight-loss treatment. According to the filings, these products were frequently labelled “research use only” while being sold for people to inject.
That label is the tell. “Research use only” is not a loophole that makes a drug safe or legal to take. It is a phrase used to shift responsibility onto the buyer.
The scale is larger than those six cases. Lilly has referred more than 200 people and entities to regulators, and flagged over 14,000 websites, adverts, social posts and listings across more than 100 countries.
Why this matters for your safety, not just your paperwork
When a drug has not been approved, nothing about it has been verified by anyone independent. Lilly has warned that black-market versions may be fake, impure or mis-dosed, and there is no way for a buyer to tell which they have received. A vial bought online has no verified strength, no verified purity, and no verified sterility.
There is also no one to go back to. If an approved medication causes a problem, there is a manufacturer, a pharmacy, a prescriber and a reporting system behind it. If an unapproved vial from an overseas supplier causes a problem, there is an email address that may stop replying.
We have written before about how widespread this has become, in our piece on black and gray market peptides. Retatrutide is the newest example of a pattern we have watched play out repeatedly.
Our position
We are a licensed medical clinic. We prescribe medications that are approved, sourced through licensed pharmacies, and dispensed with a real prescription after a real consultation with a physician.
That rules retatrutide out for now. When it is approved and compounding pharmacies can legally supply it, we will offer it, and we will be glad to. We are not against the drug. We are against giving patients an unverified injection and calling it medicine.
If a clinic is offering you retatrutide today, that is worth pausing on. It tells you something about how they treat the rules generally, and the rules exist to protect you.
What we offer instead
Semaglutide and tirzepatide are both available now, both approved, and both with substantial evidence behind them. For most patients asking about retatrutide, one of these is the appropriate treatment, and it can be started properly this week.
You can see our semaglutide programs and pricing and our tirzepatide programs and pricing, or get started here with a consultation.
If retatrutide becomes available legally, we will say so here.
Source: BioPharma Dive, “Lilly sues sellers of black-market retatrutide”.