The claim that U.S. President Donald Trump may have had early and exclusive access to Eli Lilly's retatrutide — a highly-anticipated drug to fight obesity — is still under investigation.
The rumor stems from a June 23, 2026, STAT News story, which reports one 79-year-old man requested the drug in April, and received it through the Food and Drug Administration's "compassionate use" program. The article said that the request was so unusual it could point to Trump, who was 79 in April and once said he "probably should" take a treatment against obesity.
The report said STAT did not know who this person was, but suggested he might be the president. Snopes reached out to the reporter, Lizzy Lawrence, who confirmed she doesn't "know who the patient is!" She also outlined several pieces of information she uncovered during her reporting that led her and STAT to wonder if he might be Trump.
Kush Desai, a spokesperson for the White House, called Lawrence an "unserious gossip columnist" on X, adding the application was not for Trump. In an email exchange with Snopes, he said there were many other prominent 79-year-olds who could have received exclusive access to the drug.
A rumor spread in June 2026 that U.S. President Donald Trump obtained early and exclusive access to the retatrutide weight loss drug — a medication by pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly so coveted that some people are reportedly acquiring it through illegal means.
The drug is still in the experimental stage in the U.S., and the Food and Drug Administration has yet to approve it.
Many posts on X and TikTok amplified the claim, alleging Trump was in poor health. While Eli Lilly never named Trump as a patient who received the drug before everyone else, according to some posts, he fit the profile (archived):
Further, Sen. Maggie Hassan, a Democrat from New Hampshire, reportedly sent a letter to U.S. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr, to inquire about the man who received exclusive access to the drug.
The claim stemmed from a June 23, 2026, STAT News story, which reported one 79-year-old man requested the drug in April and received it through the FDA's "compassionate use" program. The article said that the request was so unusual it could point to Trump, who was 79 in April and who received a monoclonal antibody cocktail to treat COVID-19 through the same FDA program.
As of this writing, it was still not confirmed that the patient who received early access to retatrutide was Trump. For this reason, we have left the claim unrated.
We reached out to the STAT News reporter who wrote the story, who outlined several factors that led her to wonder if Trump was the 79-year-old man who received it, though she underscored she did not know this for sure.
White House spokesperson Kush Desai denied that the patient was Trump, first on X (archived) in response to the STAT News report and then in an email exchange with Snopes.
What is retatrutide?
Retatrutide belongs to a class of drugs to treat obesity that originated in research for diabetes treatments. This generation of drugs, better known under brand names such as Wegovy, Zepbound or Ozempic, work by imitating the hormone (GLP-1) that conveys satiety (the feeling of being full) and helps regulate blood glucose levels. Some versions of the these drugs act on two types of hormone receptors. For example, Eli Lilly's Zepbound (tirzepatide) also acts on receptors for the GIP hormone, which stimulates insulin to control glucose.
Retatrutide mimics three separate hormones: GLP-1, GIP and also glucagon, a hormone secreted in the pancreas that helps to maintain blood glucose at a safe level. The molecule that blocks glucagon receptors in retatrutide forces the body to use fat for energy, accelerating fat loss. This makes the drug reportedly more powerful than the first generation of obesity drugs that act on GLP-1 receptors.
"Reta," as it is frequently referred to on social media, is in a Phase 3 trial, Eli Lilly said — meaning it is currently being tested on a large cohort to confirm its safety and efficacy. Phase 3 trials can sometimes take years, and this trial was set to end in 2028.
While Retatrutide still awaited FDA approval, it was so anticipated that some reportedly sought to acquire it on the black market, exposing themselves to counterfeit and unsafe versions of it.
Did Trump gain access to 'reta'?
The STAT News article said one individual of 79 years had gained early access to the drug outside of the ongoing clinical trial, adding that the man received the drug under the FDA's "compassionate use" program. However, experts the article's reporter, Lizzy Lawrence, cited said it was odd that only one individual would receive this drug under this program. "Often, drugmakers will establish compassionate use programs for large cohorts of patients," the story said.
In a text exchange with Snopes, Lawrence said that, besides the patient's age, three factors led her to wonder if this individual may have been Trump:
The unusual nature of the application (high level officials were involved, typically compassionate use applications are quite standard and handled by low-level employees);
clinicians and ethical experts found the Eli Lilly listing of the program bizarre because there was very little info and also they offered it on a single patient basis when obesity is such a widespread disease;
Trump has used this pathway before during Covid.
It is true that Trump used a "compassionate use" program in 2020 to access Regeneron's monoclonal antibody cocktail to treat a bout of COVID-19.
"But I want to be clear that I don't know who the patient is!," Lawrence said. "I just thought it was worth asking the question."
Meanwhile, Desai responded to the suggestion on X. "Because this has to be spelled out for @LizzyLaw_, who has proven herself to be an unserious gossip columnist, this application was not for the President," he said.
In an email to Snopes, Desai said there were other powerful 79-year-olds who could get exclusive access the drug, without naming anyone specific.
Trump, who turned 80 on June 14, reportedly told the New York Times in January 2026 that he "probably should" take obesity drugs but had not.
For further reading, Snopes debunked a claim that Trump had not appeared in public for a week in May because he'd had a stroke.
