The booming popularity of weight-loss drugs has lead to the sale and use of currently unapproved medications. Eli Lilly is currently in Phase III trials with their new medication, retatrutide. Although not yet approved, this has not stopped the “underground” sale of this medication, indicating it “for research purposes.”
In a recent article with WIRED, Frier Levitt attorney Jesse Dresser addresses how people are legally able to sell this medication, even before its approval. He noted, “If you’re selling to a lab or academic institution that is doing research, you can do that totally lawfully. That sale would be lawful, even if theoretically, the person that purchased it used it for personal consumption.” The enforcement on the rules governing this space are currently limited.
