In an extremely odd case, a single 79-year-old patient was granted early access to Eli Lilly’s powerful, still-experimental obesity drug retatrutide through the Food and Drug Administration’s “compassionate use” program—raising immediate questions if that sole patient is President Donald Trump, according to a report by Stat News.

Lilly’s retatrutide is a highly anticipated next-generation obesity drug that targets GIP and glucagon hormones in addition to GLP-1. It is currently in late-stage trials to treat obesity, diabetes, sleep apnea, and other conditions. Data from a Phase 3 trial that Lilly released in May indicates that patients with obesity (but without diabetes) who took the drug for 80 weeks lost 28 percent of their weight, an amount comparable to bariatric surgery.

Millions of Americans with obesity are eager to get the drug, with options being limited so far to enrolling in a clinical trial or trying to obtain it by dodgy methods.

But according to a barebones public notice and Stat’s sources, a single person has been granted early access through the expanded access, aka “compassionate use” pathway, which is typically used to grant access to patients with a “serious or immediately life-threatening disease or condition” and who are not able to enroll in a clinical trial, often because they are too ill.

The access request was first made in April, when the person was 79 years old (Trump turned 80 on June 14). It was made by a senior clinician at the National Institutes of Health named Ranganath Muniyappa, who requested it on behalf of a patient with refractory obesity, obstructive sleep apnea, and pulmonary hypertension, which is high blood pressure in the lungs. Sources told Stat this patient had spent a year on tirzepatide, a drug that targets the GLP-1 and GIP hormones. But the patient had achieved only moderate weight loss on the drug.

  • Phoenixz@lemmy.ca
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    6
    ·
    3 hours ago

    retatrutide

    I had to do a double take to make sure it was retardicide… That surely would have gotten rid of the fucker

  • jballs@sh.itjust.works
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    27
    ·
    10 hours ago

    I’ve got three family members taking this drug and have both lost a ton of weight. All of them have lost sunstantial amounts of weight. My brother is down 70 pounds.

    Ain’t no way Trump is taking it. He’s still fat as shit.

  • MrSulu@lemmy.ml
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    12
    ·
    10 hours ago

    Let’s pray for non trivial side effects. And I’m not even religious

    • themoken@startrek.website
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      27
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      13 hours ago

      There’s a new medical procedure that needs to be done only once. Kinetic injection of lead to the brain. So simple it can be self administered, or with the help of a friend in line of sight.

  • Danarchy@lemmy.nz
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    52
    ·
    13 hours ago

    This is like a yo momma joke. Yr prez is so fat they had to invent a new type of triple-ozempic

  • cenzorrll@piefed.ca
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    24
    arrow-down
    5
    ·
    11 hours ago

    Stat reporter Lizzy Lawrence replied, saying, “I asked you, the FDA, and HHS multiple times yesterday whether this application was for the President. No one answered my question directly.” Desai then seemed to confirm that no one had answered the question, calling it an “idiotic question.”

    I’m gonna have to agree with Desai here. It’s a stupid fucking question. As much as I hate the guy, the only link is a 79 year old. This is national enquirer level of reporting.

    • BillCheddar@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      34
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      11 hours ago

      No, the only links are “79 years old,” “name not given,” and “literally the only person in the country who was approved for this”

      That doesn’t strike you as “Hmm, maybe we should see if the fat-assed President is once again abusing his office for personal gain?”

      • cenzorrll@piefed.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        6
        arrow-down
        6
        ·
        9 hours ago

        “Name not given” applies to every person alive, and “only one person” also applies to everyone alive. Therefore the only link to Trump is “79-year old”, and I suppose “obese”, but the nature of the treatment and approval says to me that it rules him out instead of includes him.

        As far as investigating abusing his office for personal gain, this is like saying Dahmer is murderer because he stepped on a bug. Maybe investigate the bodies instead.

        • dermanus@lemmy.ca
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          3
          ·
          8 hours ago

          Why do you think it rules him out? IMO the rushed approval and special treatment says to me that it is him.

          There’s no smoking gun proving it of course but it fits his MO.

        • BillCheddar@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          arrow-up
          4
          arrow-down
          4
          ·
          8 hours ago

          Congrats; you aren’t curious enough to solve a fucking Scooby Doo mystery.

          Why on earth you would (a) continue telling people that and then (b) insist that it makes you look like anything other than a pedantic dumbfuck is beyond explanation.

    • w3dd1e@lemmy.zip
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      7 hours ago

      I would point out that it wasn’t just the age. It that, but also things like very few people on the planet knew this drug was being researched at Eli Lily. When you look at the pool of people that could have had access to that knowledge, fit the age, weight, and description of other symptoms, it becomes a little easier to guess.

      • wolfpack86@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        1
        ·
        2 hours ago

        The very few people on the planet who have access to their annual statement?

        This isn’t skunk works.

    • ayyy@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      6
      arrow-down
      1
      ·
      10 hours ago

      Also it’s basic patient privacy. The journalist asking the question surely knows that.

      • absGeekNZ@lemmy.nz
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        4
        arrow-down
        1
        ·
        10 hours ago

        I had to re-read it 3 times to not read retard-itude. That may not have been the best naming choice ever.

    • LastYearsIrritant@sopuli.xyz
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      44
      ·
      14 hours ago

      That’s the point, apparently he tried other weight loss drugs and they didn’t work. I guess his addiction to McDonald’s is stronger than Ozempic.

      • turtlesareneat@piefed.ca
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        7
        ·
        edit-2
        12 hours ago

        Yeah there’s a class of folks who have psychological issues around food and so they won’t lower their eating when their hunger goes down. Which can be a real fucker since GP1s affect transit time and digestion, this might explain some of his pants pooping.

    • Jhex@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      3
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      15 hours ago

      with today’s drugs, maybe it’s “twice as good as the leading competitor” meaning it helps 0.2% instead of just 0.1%

  • CADmonkey@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    10
    ·
    13 hours ago

    Question for someone who knows more about GLP-1 drugs than myself - if you’re taking the drug regularly, and you’re also self-administering a medicinal Whopper and large fries >1x per day, will you still lose weight? The stuff works but thermodynamics still applies?

    • manxu@piefed.social
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      14
      ·
      12 hours ago

      The class of drugs works by suppressing appetite. So you just eat less and feel good about it. Which makes restaurant chains very, very nervous.

    • sloppy_diffuser@sh.itjust.works
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      5
      ·
      edit-2
      10 hours ago

      Been on a GLP-1/GIP compounded injection for a year. Lost 90lbs.

      I physically have a hard time overeating on fats/protiens. Like I want to vomit. Meat consumption is way down from before.

      Simple carbs like starches and sugar I can overinduldge on but seem to get sick faster than before taking the medication.

      It mostly helps with food related cravings but its not a silver bullet. I can still fallback to emotional eating under high stress and fluctuate +5 lbs with water retention. Its just much easier to recover.

      I lost about 1/3 the weight on my own tracking everything. With the medication it tripled the rate of loss and I didn’t need to track anymore. I’m much more able to trust my body and hunger signals developing a healthier relationship with food.

    • YellowParenti@lemmy.wtf
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      7
      ·
      12 hours ago

      Meds kill hunger. You just feel full quickly and for a long time. My coworker brings a normal portion of food to work and only eats maybe half. They told me they don’t really feel hungry, but know they have to eat. They eat once a day. I’m pretty sure its just anorexia in a shot. Also this helps with physical hunger, so, if you emotional or stress eat, it won’t help as much/lose weight as quickly.

      • CADmonkey@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        arrow-up
        4
        ·
        12 hours ago

        Thanks for the info! So it just makes you feel full, but wont neccesarily help with an eating disorder.

        • TheOctonaut@piefed.zip
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          6
          ·
          11 hours ago

          It can actually help with eating disorders in that apart from making you feel full sooner, it also seems to have a reduction in addictive behaviours of all sorts. There’s talk of research being done for things as diverse as opiate addiction and ADHD - where improved executive function might look very like more will-power/thinking time around impulsive behaviours.

          • sloppy_diffuser@sh.itjust.works
            link
            fedilink
            English
            arrow-up
            3
            ·
            10 hours ago

            Have ADHD. I’ve been taking a GLP-1/GIP compounded injection for a year and it has done nothing for nicotine or poor impulse control shopping. If anything it made the shopping worse as clothes no longer fitting becomes a great excuse to shop. At least that’s my experience.

          • idiomaddict@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            arrow-up
            4
            ·
            11 hours ago

            I would love an ADHD medication that had no effect on my hunger. I eat normally when unmedicated (but everything else falls apart), but every medication either makes me voracious or slightly nauseated at the idea of food.

            • NotAnonymousAtAll@feddit.org
              link
              fedilink
              arrow-up
              4
              ·
              10 hours ago

              Probably a silly question, but have you asked your doctor if you could combine or cycle medications that push your appetite up and down so they balance out?

              • idiomaddict@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                arrow-up
                1
                ·
                3 hours ago

                That’s kind of what I do- vyvanse works best for me, and when my doctor gets too worried about my weight, she’ll switch me to strattera for a month or two- but I do worry about essentially having a yearly hibernation cycle with body fat.