Trump Mystery Patient in 79-Year-Old’s Experimental Obesity Drug Case
▼ Summary
– A single 79-year-old patient received early access to Eli Lilly’s experimental obesity drug retatrutide through the FDA’s compassionate use program, raising speculation the patient is President Donald Trump.
– Retatrutide targets GIP, glucagon, and GLP-1 hormones; a Phase 3 trial showed patients with obesity lost 28% of their weight over 80 weeks.
– The compassionate use pathway is reserved for patients with serious or life-threatening conditions who cannot join clinical trials.
– The access request was made in April by NIH clinician Ranganath Muniyappa for a patient with refractory obesity, sleep apnea, and pulmonary hypertension.
– The patient had previously used tirzepatide for a year but achieved only moderate weight loss.
In an unusual development that has sparked widespread speculation, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration granted a single 79-year-old patient early access to Eli Lilly’s experimental obesity drug retatrutide through its compassionate use program, prompting immediate questions about whether the recipient is President Donald Trump, according to a report from Stat News.
Retatrutide is a highly anticipated next-generation obesity treatment that targets GIP and glucagon hormones in addition to GLP-1. The drug is currently in late-stage clinical trials for obesity, diabetes, sleep apnea, and other conditions. Data from a Phase 3 trial released by Lilly in May showed that patients with obesity who did not have diabetes lost an average of 28 percent of their body weight over 80 weeks, a result comparable to bariatric surgery.
Millions of Americans struggling with obesity are eager to access the drug, but options remain limited to enrolling in a clinical trial or obtaining it through questionable means.
However, according to a sparse public notice and information from Stat’s sources, a single individual has been granted early access through the expanded access pathway, often called compassionate use. This route is typically reserved for patients with a “serious or immediately life-threatening disease or condition” who cannot enroll in a clinical trial, frequently because they are too ill.
The access request was first submitted in April, when the patient was 79 years old. Notably, President Trump turned 80 on June 14. The request was made by Dr. Ranganath Muniyappa, a senior clinician at the National Institutes of Health, on behalf of a patient diagnosed with refractory obesity, obstructive sleep apnea, and pulmonary hypertension, a form of high blood pressure in the lungs. Sources told Stat that this patient had previously spent a year on tirzepatide, a drug that targets GLP-1 and GIP hormones, but had achieved only moderate weight loss.
(Source: Ars Technica)
