Before a single vial has been legally sanctioned for human use, a drug still navigating clinical trials has found its way into gyms, salons, and social media feeds across the United Kingdom, injected by people who cannot know what they are truly receiving. Retatrutide, developed by Eli Lilly as a next-generation weight-loss therapy, has spawned a shadow market of counterfeits that offer the promise of transformation while delivering, in some cases, kidney failure and hospitalisation. It is a story as old as human longing itself — the willingness to accept unknown risk in pursuit of a desired s
Counterfeit weight-loss drug floods black market before approval
Users have experienced hospitalizations with nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, kidney failure, and one 20-year-old nearly required emergency care after overdosing on counterfeit versions.