Updated January 21, 2026 at 4:18 PM EST
If you鈥檙e one of tens of millions of Americans on a GLP-1 weight loss drug, you know how effective they can be. Now, an is on the horizon from pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly.
Retatrutide hasn鈥檛 been approved yet, but people are still finding ways to get it, staff writer reports for The Atlantic.
The GLP-3 drug is twice as effective as GLP-1s such as Ozempic, she said. But without Food and Drug Administration approval, people are searching the web and the app Telegram for ways to buy the drug cheaper from China.
Misadministering the drug to yourself can cause intense nausea and vomiting, Zhang said.
鈥淭his isn鈥檛 just a pill you鈥檙e taking. This is a drug you鈥檙e injecting,鈥� she said. 鈥淵ou have to mix it with water, sterile water, because you don鈥檛 want to get an infection from injecting yourself. And then calculate the dosage and kind of go up in the right way, or otherwise, you can get really bad side effects if you inject too big of a dose.鈥�
So why are people seeking out GLP-3s with approved GLP-1s on the market? People want to lose weight 鈥� for a price they can afford, Zhang said.
One of her sources paid for a GLP-1 through insurance until it stopped covering the drug, and her copay jumped to $700 per month, Zhang said.
鈥淚f you鈥檙e going to this underground market, you can think of the logic is you鈥檙e getting a cheaper drug that is better,鈥� she said. 鈥淭he big caveat is that it is totally underground, unregulated, and you might not know exactly what you鈥檙e getting.鈥�
3 questions with Sarah Zhang
Is Retatrutide more effective than GLP-1 drugs?
鈥淕LP-1 is one receptor. Retatrutide is three receptors. So I know I鈥檝e been covering these obesity drugs for a few years now, and it鈥檚 kind of been under the radar that among people in the know, there is this drug out there that is better, by better I mean dramatically more effective than Ozempic, and it鈥檚 on the horizon.鈥�
These drugs are not approved by the FDA, but there鈥檚 a robust black market for them online. How big is the demand?
鈥淚鈥檝e been watching this for about a year now, and it鈥檚 just been growing, growing and zooming. So, you know, this drug is available online for 鈥榬esearch purposes鈥� only.
鈥淏ut if you look at the websites that are selling these drugs, they鈥檙e making all sorts of health claims, which are in some ways validated because we do have some preliminary trial data to show that this drug is very effective, and people are buying the drugs. And at first my thought was like, 鈥楢re they getting a real drug?鈥� But they鈥檙e losing really astounding amounts of weight, like a hundred pounds. So whatever they鈥檙e getting is really effective.鈥�
鈥奧hat happened when you ordered it online?
鈥淪o I wanted to try ordering some of this drug online just to see how easy or hard it was. And the upshot is, it鈥檚 really quite easy.
鈥淭here are really kind of two ways to do it. One is you basically just go to a website and put in your credit card number, and then you get a tracking link and it shows up on your doorstep maybe a week later. It really feels like just ordering socks or books online.
鈥淭here is also a kind of a deeper underground market that you kind of have to access through going through various Telegram channels. Telegram is [an] encrypted messaging app, and that sort of requires a little bit more digging. It鈥檚 often cheaper, but in these cases you are literally messaging a contact from China, sending them crypto, and then they will ship you something from China. In one case it came in a box for a facial massage roller, so they were trying to obscure the fact that I was actually buying a drug and it was this unmarked white pattern that came in the mail.鈥�
In your piece, you write about fitness influencer Adrian Crook. He describes taking the drug, then eating a bag of popcorn before bed, and then he wakes up very sick.
鈥淚 think what he鈥檇 experienced is actually a pretty common side effect of these drugs and a known side effect for this class of drugs, which is that you basically, your stomach stops emptying or it slows down a lot and you experience this stomach blockage.
鈥淪o I think after a while he鈥檚 eventually fine, but he said, he felt like he almost had to go to the hospital. And there have definitely been other anecdotal reports of people saying like, 鈥極h, I got so sick. I did have to go to the hospital.鈥� And then there鈥檚 the other layer of safety here, which is that you don鈥檛 really know what you鈥檙e injecting, could there be bacteria in whatever you鈥檙e injecting? Could it be a totally different drug than what you actually thought you bought?鈥�
This interview was edited for clarity.
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produced and edited this interview for broadcast with . adapted it for the web.
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