White House bats down speculation that Trump got access to Eli Lilly obesity drug for ‘compassionate use’

White House officials on Tuesday shot down a report speculating that President Trump gained access to the retatrutide weight-loss drug under the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) “compassionate use program.”

The retatrutide drug is manufactured by Eli Lilly and is not FDA approved, however, one person gained access to the prescription through a program that approves experimental treatments for patients traditionally suffering from life-threatening illnesses.

Three anonymous sources familiar with the matter told STAT News, the patient approved to receive retatrutide was 79 years old, leading the outlet to believe the prescription could have been issued to Trump who turned 80 last week.

“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,” White House senior deputy press secretary Kush Desai wrote in a Tuesday post on X, referring to reporter Lizzy Lawrence who authored the article.

Lawrence said the White House and Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to multiple inquiries asking if the president was using the obesity drug.

“We shouldn’t have to bat down baseless speculation for you to not print it. Any reporter with standards would understand this,” Desai wrote in response to her post.

“Are you going to now go ask this idiotic question to the ~4 million Americans in this age cohort and then speculate about them being the application?” he added.

Trump weighs 224 pounds according to a physical from last year and has previously shared that he “probably” should be on weight loss drugs when asked about whether he’d been prescribed GLP-1 drugs in an interview with The New York Times.

The president has also been faulted for showing signs of fatigue after closing his eyes during Cabinet meetings and other events. Stat News reported that the person who received retatrutide was diagnosed with obstructive sleep apnea and pulmonary hypertension according to the request submitted by Ranganath Muniyappa, a senior clinician at the National Institutes of Health.

The patient was seeking treatment for refractory obesity, a severe phenotype of obesity defined as the failure to achieve and maintain at least 5 percent weight loss over a six-month period, despite utilizing five or more medical therapies — such as intensive behavioral therapy, medications, and diets — at their maximum tolerated dosages, according to a study listed in the National Library of Medicine.

“You thought this was your big shot, but in reality, you’re just a big idiot. You certainly made a name for yourself by completely embarrassing yourself at the expense of being thirsty for clicks and peddling falsehoods,” White House Communications Director Steven Cheung wrote in a post on X directed at Lawrence.

White House bats down speculation that Trump got access to Eli Lilly obesity drug for ‘compassionate use’

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