Eli Lilly sues six firms over illegal sales of experimental weight-loss drug

Eli Lilly disclosed Wednesday that it is suing six entities for distributing unapproved copies of its experimental weight-loss compound retatrutide. The suits include four firms—Astra Peptides, Legendary Peptides, Texas Peptides and Lone Star Peptide—that advertise the product for research purposes, as well as California-based med spa Aesthetic Envy and compounding pharmacy Striker Pharmacy. Lilly’s associate vice president Max Denning described the global illicit trade as enormous and called for cooperation from regulators, social-media sites and payment processors.

The drug remains in late-stage trials for obesity and type-2 diabetes and is not yet approved by the Food and Drug Administration. Analysts expect retatrutide could become a blockbuster, but the underground market has already prompted reports of the product being sold in convenience stores and bodegas in Brooklyn. Lilly plans to seek formal approval in early 2027.