u/Electronic_Low3128

Might be the first time error I’ve lost whilst on holiday. Ate East Asian food the whole time, no watching of what I ate generally ate healthy food and kept up with pen. A new experience for me.

Lilly put out its latest investor slides this week and there is a bit more on the retatrutide timeline.

In the previous deck, the planned submissions were still listed for 2026. They now show 2027 for obesity, sleep apnoea and knee osteoarthritis pain.

The US filing is still planned for Q1 2027. Lilly says the clinical package is complete, so it looks like most of what is left before filing is around manufacturing/quality and getting the application finished.

That doesn't necessarily rule out a 2027 launch. If they file early in Q1 and get Priority Review from the FDA, late 2027 is possible. If it gets the normal review timetable, or they file towards the end of Q1, it probably moves into 2028.

I'd put the realistic US range at late 2027 through 2028, with early 2028 probably the safer guess.

There is still no confirmed launch date, price, brand name or proper UK/European timeline.

The Expanded Access programme is separate and won't mean general availability before approval.

r/reta has hit 300 members today. Still a small subreddit but it’s growing at 10-15% a week. Next step 500!!

Thank you all for being part of it in the early days, contributing and helping shape it.

I want the community to be a safe, non- sourcing, progress, support and research led subreddit to understand the medicine, be positive and help each other as reta moves towards the mainstream (still some way off I know!).

TL;DR
- Eli Lilly has confirmed it is actively reviewing healthcare provider requests for a limited number of patients to receive authentic retatrutide before FDA approval.

- This is Expanded Access, also called Compassionate Use. It is not a commercial launch, normal prescribing or a public waiting list.

- Reported criteria include being aged 18 or over, having refractory obesity despite the highest approved dose of obesity therapy, having at least two serious or life-threatening obesity-related complications, and being unable to join a suitable clinical trial.

- Patients cannot apply directly. A treating physician has to support the request and manage the medical and regulatory process.

- The number of places, exact severity threshold, qualifying complications, cost and international availability have not been published.

What has changed?
Reuters reported on 3 August that Lilly has confirmed it will allow a limited number of patients to receive retatrutide before FDA approval. Lilly said it has built an Expanded Access programme and is actively reviewing requests from healthcare providers. STAT separately reported the same confirmation. [3][4]

A ClinicalTrials.gov record for “Provide Pre-approval Expanded Access of LY3437943”, NCT07629401, had already appeared in June. STAT then reported that Lilly and the FDA had granted access to one 79-year-old patient. Until now, it was unclear whether that was an exceptional one-off case. [2][5]
The new element is that Lilly has publicly confirmed it will consider further patients. This still appears to be a small, case-by-case route rather than a broad early-access launch.

What is Expanded Access?
Expanded Access is the formal name for what is often called Compassionate Use. It allows an investigational medicine to be used outside a clinical trial in limited circumstances, normally where a patient has a serious or life-threatening condition, no satisfactory approved alternative and no suitable trial they can enter.

Lilly says clinical trials remain the preferred route. Its general policy says Expanded Access is considered only in rare cases, when available medical options have been exhausted and the expected benefit is judged to outweigh the risks. [1][6]

This does not mean retatrutide is FDA approved. It cannot be prescribed as an ordinary approved medicine, and the FDA has not completed its review for routine use.

Who may qualify?
According to the criteria Lilly provided to Reuters, a patient must:

- be aged 18 or older;
- have refractory obesity despite tolerating the highest approved dose of obesity therapy;
- have at least two serious or life-threatening obesity-related complications for which they are receiving care; and
- be unable to participate in an ongoing retatrutide clinical trial or a trial of a comparable investigational treatment. [3]

Lilly’s general rules also require there to be no comparable or satisfactory alternative treatment, enough evidence of a possible benefit, a favourable balance between benefit and risk, and no material interference with its clinical trials. [1]

In plain English, this appears intended for a very small group of adults with severe obesity that has not responded adequately to approved treatment and who also have multiple serious medical complications.
It does not look intended for someone who simply prefers retatrutide’s trial results, has reached a normal weight-loss plateau or does not want to wait for approval.

There is no published BMI cut-off, no list of qualifying complications and no definition of how much response to approved treatment counts as inadequate. It is also unclear how many approved treatments must first have been tried.

Meeting the headline criteria will not guarantee acceptance. Lilly will still review the individual medical case and decide whether it is willing to supply the medicine.

How would someone apply?
There is no public patient application or waiting list. The route starts with the treating physician.

The physician reviews the patient’s treatment history and complications, and checks whether the patient could enter a retatrutide or comparable clinical trial.

If the physician believes Expanded Access may be the only reasonable option, they contact Lilly and make a formal request for that individual patient. Lilly’s general policy gives 1-800-LillyRx as the US contact.

Outside the US, it tells physicians to contact their local Lilly medical office.

Lilly reviews the case. Its general policy says it will respond within five business days after receiving the request and required medical information. That is a response target, not a promise of approval or supply.

If Lilly agrees, regulatory and ethics approval are still required. In the US, the normal individual-patient process includes a physician submission to the FDA, Institutional Review Board review, informed consent, monitoring and safety reporting.

Treatment can begin only after the necessary permissions are in place and Lilly supplies the medicine to the physician. [1][6]

The retatrutide-specific process has not been published in full. These steps combine Lilly’s general policy with the normal FDA Expanded Access process.

Who is unlikely to qualify?
Based on the published criteria, this is unlikely to cover people who:
are under 18;

do not have at least two serious or life-threatening obesity-related complications;
have not used the highest approved dose of an approved obesity treatment;
can join a suitable clinical trial; or
mainly want retatrutide for greater weight loss or convenience.

A treating physician must also be willing to take responsibility for the application, treatment, monitoring and reporting.
This is not a route to an ordinary prescription, a way to bypass clinical trial eligibility or a method of buying official retatrutide directly from Lilly.

Cost and access outside the US
Lilly has not published a retatrutide-specific payment policy.

Expanded Access does not automatically mean the medicine and all associated care are free. Whether Lilly will provide the drug without charge, whether insurance will cover related care, and whether patients could face medical or administrative costs are currently unknown.

International availability is also unclear. Lilly’s general policy allows doctors outside the US to contact their local Lilly office and says the relevant national regulator must approve an agreed request before shipment. [1]

However, Lilly has not confirmed which countries, if any, are currently accepting retatrutide applications. This should not be read as confirmed access in the UK, Europe or elsewhere.

What remains unknown?
Lilly has not publicly confirmed:

- the total number of patients it will accept;
- the exact BMI or severity threshold;
- which complications qualify;
- how inadequate response to approved treatment will be measured;
- how applications will be prioritised;
- the dosing and monitoring arrangements;
- how long treatment can continue;
cost or insurance arrangements; or
which countries can take part.

What happens next?
Lilly says it plans to submit retatrutide to the FDA in the first quarter of 2027. Expanded Access does not replace that process or make approval certain. Clinical trials will remain the main legitimate route for most people before approval. [3]

Lilly’s general policy says Expanded Access programmes are phased out once a medicine receives commercial approval. Wider routine access would depend on regulatory approval, manufacturing supply and Lilly’s eventual launch arrangements. [1]

Bottom line
This is real, but it is very narrow.
Lilly has moved beyond what appeared to be a single exceptional case and has confirmed that it is reviewing further physician requests. It has not opened retatrutide to the general public and there is no patient waiting list.
For someone who may genuinely meet the criteria, the practical route is to ask their treating physician to review current clinical trials and Lilly’s Expanded Access requirements. The physician, not the patient, would then need to approach Lilly.
Even where the published criteria appear to be met, access remains discretionary and is likely to be limited to a very small number of medically complex cases.

Sources

[1] Eli Lilly Expanded Access policy
https://www.lilly.com/science/clinical-trials/expanded-access
[2] ClinicalTrials.gov: Provide Pre-approval Expanded Access of LY3437943, NCT07629401
https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT07629401
[3] Reuters, 3 August 2026: Eli Lilly to offer early access to next-generation obesity drug to some patients
https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/eli-lilly-offer-early-access-next-gen-obesity-drug-some-patients-2026-08-03/
[4] STAT, 3 August 2026: Lilly to allow more patients to apply for special access to retatrutide
https://www.statnews.com/2026/08/03/eli-lilly-retatrutide-mystery-patient-doctors-seek-same-access-their-patients/
[5] STAT, 23 June 2026: Earlier individual Compassionate Use case
https://www.statnews.com/2026/06/23/eli-lilly-unusual-weight-loss-drug-trial-compassionate-use-retatrutide-trump/
[6] FDA information for patients on Expanded Access
https://www.fda.gov/news-events/expanded-access/expanded-access-information-patients

TRIUMPH-5 should finally give us a proper same-trial comparison of retatrutide and tirzepatide.

What is the trade-off? If retatrutide produced two percentage points more average weight loss but noticeably more vomiting or treatment stopping, would that be enough? What about five percentage points? Or more?

For someone already doing well on tirzepatide, the threshold may be much higher than for someone who has plateaued or never responded strongly.

Where is your line?

More weight loss, similar tolerability, better food-noise control, lower treatment discontinuation, or something else?

Previous r/RETA analysis:

https://www.reddit.com/r/RETA/comments/1v3rt96/

TRIUMPH-5 registry:

https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06662383

Hello,

Please can I ask which of the beaches near Nanjo is best for families? Kids are 9-13.

Is it worth travelling further for better beaches also (we have a car)?

Thank you

Shared with permission of @ManOnThePen - I think it is very relevant to recent discussions on the sub:

If the FDA changes the definition for biologics, and could happen in light of their recent litigation with Lilly, it would impact all obesity peptides. Not just #retatrutide. That’s the whole ballgame folks. How this pans out is a massive deal. I’ve been blowing the whistle on this for two years.

Don’t miss today’s podcast, I lay it all out. 👇

https://youtu.be/dexACjU6DyM

GLPzy is a private iPhone/iPad tracker for doses, weight, symptoms, progress photos, measurements, appetite, nutrition and Apple Health.

Lifetime Premium is free to claim until 31 August and remains unlocked permanently once claimed. No account is required.

Open the app, go to Premium and select Lifetime Premium. Check that it shows as 0.00 before confirming.

https://apps.apple.com/app/id6761775005

More details

https://www.glpzy.app

For anyone who has used retatrutide as well as tirzepatide or semaglutide, did the side effects feel noticeably different?
I’m interested in things like nausea, reflux, constipation, fatigue, skin sensitivity, heart rate, appetite and food noise. Which were better, worse, or simply different on retatrutide?

Hello all!

I’m about 60% to my weight loss goal, currently in 7.5mg, and starting to think about the longer term picture. Right now moving to a maintenance dose of Mounjaro (whatever that may be and I guess everyone is a bit different here) seems the long term prognosis. The thought of a few hundred a month forever isn’t one I'm that keen on but I want to keep the weight off too once I get there.

The question I have for the knowledgeable people is are there companies focussed on just maintenance medicine In the future pipeline? I’d like to do more research on this but I‘d like some pointers where to start.

All the headlines seem to be on such a such loss by X weeks but I feel the longer term market for maintenance will be bigger than weight loss itself as more people reach their goals. If much rather a cheaper option that helps maintain if this is it for the next 30 years!

I presume I’m not the only one who at times has just got stuck with codex when it just cannot solve a bug and each time it tells it is confident it is fixed but it isn’t. I had it recently with an android app where an API call was failing but only on certain devices. I’ve lots of cases of it though across Android, iOS, Mac and even office add-ins, and no matter what the effort level I go to it doesn’t work it out.

I found what I think is a strong workaround to fix this. It’s basic software engineering but not one codex suggested itself. What I do now is first ask it to diagnose the issue (often on a higher reasoning level) before trying to fix. I then challenge it on the diagnosis before asking it to implement it. Something this moves it on, not always.

For more difficult cases I ask it what additional diagnostic information it would need to be sure of the issue. I then ask it to design and add that to the code as temporary diagnostics that can be exported or shown on a screen such the problematic action can give precise information where the issue is. Either in sandbox, simulator or from a real device I’ve then got additional data for codex to understand what is happening and solve.

I wanted to share as I thought this may be useful to others, and it is isn’t something I see coming up regularly in how to use codex, despite diagnostic tools being a bedrock for software dev - especially error reports and segmentation fault determination with complex code.

I’m curious do others use similar approaches and what else users do when codex gets in a cycle of trying to solve something but failing.

https://preview.redd.it/9at2rmouitah1.jpg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=ac4648ded5bca967169e164bac7753acd8f75e4e

https://preview.redd.it/cp0pinouitah1.jpg?width=1080&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=c11e206256bbce450fd73924591d2b3b75a1448e

For Father’s Day last year my son got me a bonsai set. It consisted of several bags of seeds and soil to rehydrate. I was very skeptical but it was such a lovely idea I had to try.

Only one seed took, the other 4 types didn’t (even after wintering two in the fridge).

The pine, which I guess was probably the easiest, took hold though and one year in here it is today. Still to early to transfer to a nice bonsai pot or trim the roots (or shape /wire if I go that route).

I’m taking care to give it lots of sunshine, some wind to harden the stem and rotate it regularly. I’m only bringing it in not in really bad weather as I read that pines should be outside to flourish.

It’s a bit uneven, I’m not sure if that is some inconsistency in rotating or just happens as anyway.

My son had expected it turn into a bonsai quite quickly (he was 12 at the time) but I think the lesson in patience and care is a good one. Maybe one day I’ll hand it back to him as a mature tree.

Anyway wanted to do my show and tell to say hello to the community. My 1 year experience has been from ChatGPT guidance so know I've a lot to learn! I’ve a long way to go so looking forward to learning from the community and the amazing trees I've seen here.