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Two Deaths Were Reported to the FDA. Is the Bootleg Weight-Loss Drug ‘Reta’ to Blame?
The Food and Drug Administration received reports in recent months that two people died after taking bootleg versions of an experimental weight-loss drug, according to documents reviewed by CBS News.
The reports link the deaths to products claiming to be retatrutide, a drug being developed by Eli Lilly that hasn’t been approved by the FDA. Federal law prohibits the commercial sale of unapproved drugs, but that hasn’t stopped vendors from selling imitation versions of the experimental drug online at a scale with no modern precedent.
The cases appear to be the first public accounts in the U.S. alleging that unauthorized use of retatrutide — or products claiming to contain it — played a role in a patient’s death, though the details aren’t verified and it is unclear whether the drug was to blame.
Ongoing Lawsuits Allege GLP-1s Can Cause Serious Harm. But We Don’t Know How Often
Todd Engel had operated heavy machinery, like forklifts and rubber-tire loaders, around warehouses and highways in suburban Maryland for four decades. In early 2023, Engel’s doctor put him on Ozempic, a GLP-1, for diabetes. That winter, on New Year’s Eve, Engel woke up feeling as if a patch covered his right eye: “I couldn’t see anything. It was all dark. It was black.”
The doctor told Engel and his wife Shelley it was a form of optic neuropathy — NAION, for short – an inoperable condition caused by tiny strokes that cut off blood flow to his eye. When the doctor listed all known causes, Shelley Engel specifically asked about Ozempic. “‘We have heard nothing about that,'” she recalls the doctor telling her.
Seven months later, the journal JAMA Ophthalmology did publish research showing higher rates of NAION among diabetic patients taking Ozempic, or semaglutide, as the active ingredient name is known. But neither Engel nor his doctor were aware, so Engel kept taking weekly shots until his left eye went black, just as the other had done the year prior.
Opioid Prescriptions During Pregnancy Linked to Higher Rates of Childhood Hospital Admission
Children whose mothers received opioid prescriptions during pregnancy have a higher rate of hospital admission in childhood than unexposed children, including unexposed siblings, according to a new study published in the open-access journal PLOS Medicine by Dong Keon Yon of Kyung Hee University College of Medicine, South Korea, and colleagues.
Over recent decades, opioid prescriptions and doses have risen in clinical practice, and a considerable proportion of pregnant women are exposed to these drugs. In the U.S., for example, data have shown that 14–22% of women filled a prescription for opioids during pregnancy.
Prenatal opioid exposure may disrupt infant development and immune system function, but prior studies have had limitations such as confounding factors, limited sample sizes or restricted follow-up durations.
Many Patient, Consumer Reps on FDA Advisory Panels Have Ties to Groups Funded by Pharma, Analysis Finds
Nearly 40% of Food and Drug Administration advisory committee meetings held over a recent 20-year period included either a patient or consumer representative with active ties to an advocacy group funded by pharmaceutical companies, according to a new analysis. And for several committees, the number of such reps exceeded 50%.
In addition, more than one in 10 advisory committee meetings included a rep who was affiliated with an organization that received funding from the drugmaker whose medicine was being reviewed by the committees. Yet most of these organizational ties were not disclosed at the meetings, raising questions about voting behavior.
The analysis, which was published in Health Affairs Scholar, noted the FDA has well-established conflict-of-interest policies for its scientific advisory committee members, but policies concerning patient and consumer reps are not as well developed, especially concerning industry funding of advocacy groups whose members appear on committees.
Federal Grant to Fund Inhaled Vaccines
Researchers at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have been awarded a five-year project agreement valued at approximately $20.7 million to establish Vaccine Immunoengineering for Targeted Antigen Presentation and Layered Control (VITAL), an initiative exploring improved immunization methods against respiratory pathogens, according to a news release from the Mount Sinai Health System.
The project is backed by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) Joint Science and Technology Office (JSTO) through the Medical CBRN Defense Consortium, with incremental funding scheduled through August 28, 2031. VITAL was selected under JSTO’s Reimagining Available Vaccines and Envisioning Novelty (RAVEN) program, which supports multivalent biological countermeasures capable of addressing multiple threats rather than individual pathogens.
The initial proof of concept focuses on highly pathogenic avian influenza A virus (H5N1). Investigators are developing an unmodified mRNA-based vaccine prototype designed for intranasal delivery. The platform restricts immunogen expression primarily to macrophages in the respiratory tract, aiming to prevent adverse events associated with antigen expression in non-immune cells that do not participate in clearance during natural infection, according to the health system.
Eastern Equatoria Deploys 1,722 Vaccinators for Polio Campaign
Health authorities in Eastern Equatoria state have launched a four-day polio vaccination campaign, deploying 1,722 vaccinators to reach children across communities and prevent the disease, which can cause permanent paralysis. Vaccination teams are expected to visit households, schools, markets, churches and other public gathering places to ensure eligible children receive the vaccines.
Speaking at the launch at Torit Freedom Square on Tuesday, Dr. Amin Gordiano, director general at the state Ministry of Health, said the campaign would deploy 1,722 vaccinators and 159 supervisors to improve immunization coverage.
“No community is to be missed, and no child should be left behind,” Gordiano said, urging parents and communities to welcome vaccination teams into their homes.
The campaign will use two oral vaccines: the novel oral polio vaccine type 2 (nOPV2), which targets poliovirus type 2, and the bivalent oral polio vaccine (bOPV), which protects against types 1 and 3.
