Public warned not to take unapproved weight-loss drug

A leading obesity consultant has said hospitals are seeing a rise in the number of patients presenting with side effects from taking weight-loss drug Retatrutide.

Retatrutide, often shortened to 'reta', is an injectable peptide, which is currently undergoing clinical trials by Eli Lilly.

It is not yet approved for human use anywhere in the world and it cannot be sold lawfully in Ireland or elsewhere.

However, Retatrutide is being bought and sold online and on social media, gaining popularity among gym-goers who want to get leaner, faster.

"We are seeing Retatrutide being used in gyms on the advice of personal trainers. But they give no advice about side effects and how to manage those side effects, leading to real problems," Professor Donal O'Shea told said.

"We had somebody in at the weekend who was getting Retatrutide twice a week in the gym from their personal trainer, and they were in hospital with vomiting and kidney disease," he said.

"That's going to happen widescale if people are taking this drug."

The most common side effects of Retatrutide are gastrointestinal, like nausea, vomiting, diarrhoea and constipation. It can also affect the liver, pancreas and kidneys.

Prof O’Shea says some patients who present with side effects of Retatrutide do not disclose that they have been injecting the drug.

"They are too embarrassed to say they are taking it, leaving us blindfolded when we are trying to come to a conclusion," he said.

'I wouldn't be able to stand'

Shauna Louise Cleary, an online fitness coach, began using Retatrutide in February, ahead of a gym photoshoot in Marbella.

She was using it twice a week, hoping to accelerate her weight loss.

"I had heard about it in the bodybuilding community. I know it is very popular at the moment.," she said.

"It started to get really difficult after the first two weeks. Within half an hour of me injecting I would start to get sick, and I wouldn't be able to stand.

"I wasn't consuming more than 500 calories a day. Anything I would eat would come straight back up."

After upping her dosage, Ms Cleary decided to stop taking the drug.

"I nearly collapsed in the gym and that was when I decided to come off it, because my body just rejected it.

"I just don’t think it’s worth putting your body under that stress."

Read more: Weight loss drugs - can the demand be contained?

Earlier this month, Eli Lilly called on social media platforms to "stop enabling this illegal market" and to "take proactive steps to block this conduct before it reaches consumers".

Social media platforms say they have banned all advertisements and promotion of Retatrutide.

Meta said it removes content about weight loss that contains a miracle claim, and attempts to buy, sell, trade, donate or gift weight-loss products - often advertised as 'peps'.

It also said it does not allow content that encourages or provides instructions on how to use non-medical drugs.

Meta said it is constantly working to get better at detecting this type of content.

TikTok has also clamped down, saying "it does not allow trading, marketing, or providing access to regulated, prohibited, or high-risk goods and services".

"This includes regulated substances such as products marketed for weight loss or muscle gain," it added.

TikTok said it has also banned the hashtags #retatrutide and #reta, and "will continue to remove content found to violate its community guidelines".

However, RTÉ News has seen several social media accounts managing to navigate the restrictions, while the Health Products Regulatory Authority said it has seen a "continual upward trend" in the number of social media pages illegally selling weight loss drugs like Retatrutide.

For Prof O'Shea, it is a concerning trend.

"I have been studying GLP-1 since 1992, and you could never have foreseen that it would then be hijacked by the social media space, sourced from compound pharmacies before it is even licensed as a drug and abused in this way," he said.

"If you are using some of these GLP-1s and you are not feeling well - please go to the hospital. We just need to know. We’re not going to judge you because of it."