Two deaths in people using black-market retatrutide reported to the FDA
CBS News reported on October 13 that the FDA received two reports of deaths, one in July 2026 and one in September 2026, in people who took illicit products sold as retatrutide, Eli Lilly's experimental weight-loss drug. A 41-year-old woman with obesity went into cardiac arrest at a hospital after a dangerously fast heartbeat. A health care professional filed that report, listed retatrutide as the suspect product, and said she obtained it from an unreliable source. She was also consuming kava. A 49-year-old patient died after experiencing severe dehydration, malnutrition and cardiac arrest. A licensed nurse had supplied that patient with vials obtained from an online peptide vendor and recommended dosages. An attorney for that seller told CBS that a licensed healthcare professional should never recommend research-use-only products.
These are adverse event reports, not proof that the drug caused either death. The FDA said it reviews adverse event reports and declined to say whether it had verified either report. Lilly told CBS the reports make clear both were taking black-market retatrutide, which can contain the wrong amount or the wrong active ingredient. Pieter Cohen of Harvard Medical School said the FDA should get hold of the actual drug.
Poison center exposure calls for retatrutide rose through 2026: 249 in January to March, 460 next quarter, 862 in the quarter ending September.
Patients report harms from BPC-157 as an FDA panel votes to recommend wider access
KFF Health News reported on October 13 on people who say podcast-promoted peptides made them sick. A 46-year-old engineer got a migraine within days of combining BPC-157 and thymosin beta-4. FDA adverse event records include two hospitalizations after BPC-157, one called life-threatening. Those are reports, not proof of cause. A 2020 study found liver toxicity signs in rats and dogs given BPC-157, and the case for these peptides rests on animal work, where fewer than 10% of promising substances work in people. In July, panel appointees, some with financial stakes in the peptide industry, voted to recommend adding six peptides, including BPC-157, TB-500 and MOTS-c, to the FDA's 503A compounding list. Liver specialist Brian Lee voted no, and Eric Topol said wider access makes trials less likely.
UBT251 cut weight 13.6% to 19.7% at 24 weeks in the 155 adults given the drug
A randomized phase 2 in 205 adults with overweight or obesity in China tested UBT251, a triple GLP-1/GIP/glucagon agonist. Weight fell 13.6% to 19.7% at 24 weeks versus 2.0% on placebo. DEXA in a subset showed lean mass fell with fat mass. Grade 3 or worse events hit 9.0% on drug versus 4.0% on placebo, and 13.0% at 6 mg. Adverse events of special interest hit 20 of 155 on drug and none on placebo: joint or muscle pain in 13, severe gastrointestinal reactions in 4, one acute kidney injury, one hypersensitivity reaction, one gallstone. Low blood potassium hit 17 of 155 (11.0%) versus none on placebo, and positive urine ketones 18 of 155 (11.6%), reaching 24.0% in one 4 mg arm, versus 4.0% on placebo; the authors say these support routine lab monitoring, particularly with substantial weight loss. Heart rate rose and fell back after stopping; sinus tachycardia hit 7.1% versus 2.0% on placebo. Two Novo Nordisk employees are co-authors, and Novo Nordisk holds rights outside mainland China, Hong Kong, Macau and Taiwan.
Gallbladder reports stand out for GLP-1 drugs in the FDA's side-effect database
Both papers are disproportionality analyses of FAERS, the FDA's voluntary report database, which cannot give a rate or show cause. In one, published September 28, gallbladder reports marked out the GLP-1 drugs: semaglutide 6.52, liraglutide 6.06, tirzepatide 2.16, dulaglutide 1.32, with no signal for metformin or SGLT2 inhibitors. Composite pancreatic reporting odds ratios: liraglutide 28.53, semaglutide 8.68, dulaglutide 6.65, tirzepatide 3.27, with metformin at 4.20 and SGLT2 inhibitors at 3.78. The pancreatic signal held after excluding gallbladder co-reports and ran higher for diabetes brands than obesity brands. Of reported pancreatic cases, up to 49.7% involved hospitalization, 3.7% a death and 8.4% a life-threatening outcome. The second paper covers 43,754 semaglutide reports, led by nausea (12.88%) and vomiting (9.36%), with signals for ketoacidosis and optic ischaemic neuropathy, a vision-loss event.
Full evidence file: SemaglutideTirzepatide
Also: a halted oral GLP-1 trial, and Walmart coverage from 2027
- [Trial registry, no results] Verdiva's phase 2 of oral ecnoglutide for weight maintenance after semaglutide or tirzepatide (NCT07553299, first posted April 28) ran June 12 to September 11 and was terminated with 8 enrolled; the October 13 update says a business decision, not safety.
- [News reporting, not a study] CNBC reported October 13 that Walmart confirmed it will cover Ozempic and Mounjaro at no cost for employees with type 2 diabetes from 2027, behind a new prior authorization. Not covered for weight loss.
Full evidence file: TirzepatideSemaglutide
How to read the labels.Every story says what its source is: a randomized trial in people, people observed without randomization, a meta-analysis, a review or an editorial (no new data), a trial registry entry with no results yet, adverse event reports (which show what was reported, not what caused it), animals, cells, a regulator or court document, a company's own unreviewed numbers, or a news outlet's reporting. Quick hits carry a label on each item.