MS NOW- White House denies Trump applied for 'compassionate use' for weight loss drug

[LetMyPeopleVote]

An unnamed 79-year-old man was reportedly granted special access to the drug retatrutide through a “compassionate use” program.

White House denies Trump applied for ‘compassionate use’ for weight loss drug.

An unnamed 79-year-old man was reportedly granted special access to the drug retatrutide through a “compassionate use” program.

www.ms.now/news/white-h...

— TheBlackPage (Woke, DEI forever against fascism) (@theblackpage.bsky.social) 2026-06-23T23:21:33.054Z

https://www.ms.now/news/white-house-trump-weight-loss-drug

The White House on Tuesday denied that President Donald Trump applied for access to an experimental obesity drug not yet on the market after Stat News reported that a 79-year-old man was approved to take it.

The health and science news outlet Stat News reported that the Food and Drug Administration and drug manufacturer Eli Lilly allowed one person — a 79-year-old man — special access to the drug retatrutide through a “compassionate use” program, citing three sources familiar with the matter. Those sources, Stat News reported, requested anonymity due to fear of reprisals.

According to the FDA, compassionate use is a “pathway for a patient with a serious or immediately life-threatening disease or condition to gain access to an investigational medical product (drug, biologic, or medical device) for treatment outside of clinical trials when no comparable or satisfactory alternative therapy options are available.”....

But on Tuesday, hours after the Stat News report was published, White House spokesman Kush Desai said on X that the “application was not for the President.” He went on to publicly bash the report’s author, Lizzy Lawrence, accusing her of being an “unserious gossip columnist.”

Lawrence responded on X that she had asked Desai, the FDA and HHS “multiple times” on Monday whether the application was for Trump. “No one answered my question directly,” she wrote. Desai called the report “baseless speculation” in a follow-up post.

The patient who received this drug "suffered from refractory obesity with obstructive sleep apnea and pulmonary hypertension."

National Institutes of Health Senior Clinician Ranganath Muniyappa requested the drug to treat the patient, who suffered from refractory obesity with obstructive sleep apnea and pulmonary hypertension, Stat News reported. Muniyappa, who did not respond to the outlet’s request for comment, reportedly recommended against bariatric surgery because of the patient’s age and medical conditions.

The patient also took tirzepatide, an FDA-approved obesity drug by Lilly, for one year, “but experienced only moderate weight loss,” Stat News reported, citing sources familiar with the matter.

trump has not lost any significant weight over the last year and so that does NOT rule trump out. I have obstructive sleep apnea and have been using a CPAP for a very long time. I seriously doubt that trump is capable of using a CPAP machine correctly and consistently which could account for trump's strange hours and trump falling asleep in meetings.

[buzzycrumbhunger]

1. There are sooooo many such drugs, though

...almost all of which are being prescribed like candy--Ozempic, Mounjaro, Wegovy, etc.

As a pharmacy tech, I was mortified because one of the biggest possible side effects is thyroid cancer, amongst others.

I've also seen patients balloon right back up after losing weight precipitously after stopping, and that makes it even more sketchy.

But yeah--Shitler getting special dispensation because he can't muster dietary changes (gah--all that McDonalds shit!) is on brand for him. Let's hope this "experimental" drug has a whopper of a side effect--as in sudden death. I'm getting sick of waiting. 🙄

[Jim__]

2. And who could doubt what the Trump White House says?

[canetoad]

3. Saw mention of this drug recently

https://www.health.vic.gov.au/health-alerts/toxicity-linked-to-unapproved-peptide-retatrutide
The department has been notified of six cases of acute liver toxicity associated with an unapproved peptide product in Australia, labelled Retatrutide.

These toxic effects are possibly associated with a contaminant in the products labelled as ‘Retatrutide’ and all such products are at risk.


https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-06-20/liver-failure-fake-retatrutide-health-risk/106814372
Senior doctors at a Melbourne hospital are warning people not to take counterfeit weight-loss drugs labelled as "retatrutide" after seeing multiple cases of life-threatening illness.

Among them is a woman who found herself in acute liver failure within a week of her second dose of the drug, who has ongoing health issues six months later.Warning issued over counterfeit weight-loss drugs labelled as retatrutide

[LisaL]

7. it sounds like the liver damage was caused by some counterfeit product

so who knows what that was?

[spanone]

4. Maybe it'll make him human?

[niyad]

6. Nothing in the known universe is capable of that!

[GenThePerservering]

5. Lab rat

(even though I disapprove of animal experimentation - it's OK if it's Trump)

[LisaL]

8. Does he show any sign of weight loss?

I can't tell.

[EdmondDantes_]

14. Not that it's worth anything but his physical reported weight gain over the last year

Granted it's still not a realistic weight for him, but at least on that metric he's gained.

[58Sunliner]

9. I believe that you can buy this as a peptide online.

I don't think that it would help that much if he has CHF which causes bloating and swelling. Pictures from G7 show abdominal girth increasing imo, which is indicative of a worsening condition.

[LisaL]

10. You can buy a lot of things on-line.

I wouldn't trust that you are actually buying what you think you are buying if you are buying medication that is not yet approved for actual use.

[58Sunliner]

11. I don't advocate peptide use.Suppliers who test their product are available.

Many prescriptions are dangerous. Many approved drugs have been proven lethal after short and long term use.

[Johonny]

13. I believe he is taking it, and I believe

He never applied to take it. Following or pretending to follow rules, doesn't sound like Trump. Just doing things he feels entitled to, now that's Trump.

[Torchlight]

15. I'd guess Mr. trump feels entitled to take anything without application

So this may easily be the half-truth the lie is cowering behind. He most likely saw it, demanded it and took it... applications and process be damned. He's very special fella.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

16. MS NOW-Sen. Maggie Hassan questions Trump administration over mystery weight loss drug patient

“This decision to bend the rules comes as millions of Americans are clamoring for access to these kinds of life-changing drugs,” Hassan wrote in a letter shared exclusively with MS NOW.

Sen. Maggie Hassan questions Trump administration over mystery weight loss drug patient - MS NOW apple.news/ANIqbYizyQ9u...

— (@oc88.bsky.social) 2026-06-25T04:39:20.154Z

https://www.ms.now/news/maggie-hassan-retatrutide-patient-white-house

Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., on Wednesday questioned the Trump administration over the mystery individual who got exclusive access to a new weight loss drug that is not available to the general public.

Hassan penned a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. expressing concern over reports that a “well-connected individual,” whom she suggested is President Donald Trump, received special, free access to the experimental weight loss drug retatrutide.

The New Hampshire Democrat shared the letter with MS NOW in an exclusive interview with “The Weeknight.”

“We’ve got somebody highly connected in this administration who’s making special deals for one person and it just speaks to the whole way this administration operates,” Hassan told MS NOW. “They’re thinking about the highly connected, the wealthy.”

In her letter to Kennedy, the congresswoman said she was concerned that the administration was “bending the rules” by giving an individual special access to the drug through the Food and Drug Administration.

“I am deeply concerned by new reporting that suggests you may be bending the rules of a federal program, and exerting improper political pressure, in order to provide a well-connected individual with free access to an exclusive prescription drug,” the senator wrote to Kennedy.