--- title: "Black Market Retatrutide Linked to Multiple Deaths" description: "As the trade of black market weight-loss drugs proliferates, the FDA has acknowledged at least two deaths involving knockoff retatrutide." date: "2026-10-17" modified: "2026-10-17" authors: - name: "Joe Wilkins" job_title: "Correspondent" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/jwilkins.md" url: "https://futurism.com/health-medicine/black-market-retatrutide-peptides-drugs-fda-deaths" categories: - "Health & Medicine" - "Medical" - "RX and Medicine" --- # Black Market Retatrutide Linked to Multiple Deaths ![Vials with an overlaid skull.]() *Shutterstock / Futurism* Nearly a year ago, news [began to spread]() of an experimental weight loss drug called retatrutide, under development by Eli Lilly. Though the drug hadn't made it through clinical trials, nevermind been released by a federally licensed manufacturer, a rapidly-growing [black market]() ensured interested customers didn't have to wait for the real deal. Now, the bill on those black market knockoffs seems to be coming due. As [*CBS* reports](), the consequences of the unapproved retatrutide trade have now become deadly. According to the broadcaster, the Food and Drug Administration has received at least two reports of deaths related to the use of bootleg retatrutide in recent months — the first public accounts from health officials acknowledging that the knockoffs contributed to users' deaths. Though *CBS* viewed documents related to the two deaths, it noted that the details haven't been independently verified, and it remains to be seen whether the black market retatrutide was the principle cause of death in either case, or merely a complicating factor. Documents related to the death of a 41-year-old woman in July, for example, names retatrutide as a "suspect product" which the deceased obtained "from an unreliable source." The woman in question was labeled obese, and died after going into cardiac arrest. Though more information is needed to determine whether the knockoffs were truly responsible for the deaths, the FDA's interest is telling. In April, [*Medpage Today* reported]() a case of retatrutide overdose which led to extreme side effects for the user which included kidney injury, extreme dehydration, and diarrhea lasting at least a week. And though the FDA is at least aware of the dubious retatrutide trade, the federal government's [lax attitude]() toward bootleg peptides throughout the second Trump administration is arguably a principle factor contributing to the rise of sketchy knockoffs. "It is concerning because of the breakdown of our drug-approval process in the United States of America," associate professor at Harvard Medical School Pieter Cohen told *CBS*. **More on peptides:** *[Pete Davidson Has Been Crushing Black Market Peptides to Get Disgustingly Swole]()* ## Author At Futurism, I focus on the intersection of technology and power — examining the economics, history, and politics behind today’s dystopian headlines. As a writer, I’m interested in topics ranging from AI’s impact on labor to startups nobody asked for. My prior work includes bylines in Jacobin, Verso, and Blue Labyrinths. My work for Futurism has been cited by publications including Forbes, The Guardian, MIT Technology Review, Time, The Nation, Mother Jones, The Verge, and Wired. I grew up in Michigan, attending Central Michigan University as well as Ball State University, where I earned a master of music. I now live in Brooklyn with my girlfriend and our cat Ziti. On weekends, you can find me hunched over a cold pint arguing geopolitics with the other transplants. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()