Irish-run TikTok channels and Telegram groups promoting retatrutide and other peptides have drawn in a devoted following of young fitness fanatics.<\/p>\n
A video from one account shows the seller\u2019s supply of injections and vials of the drug ready to be shipped out. <\/p>\n
Another depicts the dealer flaunting his sculpted and slim physique with the caption \u201clike and comment below for a free sample\u201d.<\/p>\n
![\"Illustration](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/\/a94d9506-01f2-44a6-a381-2ebb99909579.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
Retatrutide is not licensed or approved<\/p>\n
ALAMY<\/p>\n
In a comment to a potential customer, he assures them that they will have a summer body \u201cbefore the end of the year\u201d. <\/p>\n
The Sunday Times reached out to a second channel, requesting a price list for his supply of retatrutide<\/a>. The anonymous vendor stated a 10mg supply was \u20ac60, with the 20mg priced at \u20ac100.<\/p>\n When questioned about the origin of his stock, he offered a one-word reply, \u201cEU\u201d, while a far bigger supplier operating in the UK confirmed he provided \u201cnext-day\u201d delivery to Ireland.<\/p>\n Because retatrutide is not a controlled substance, taking it is not illegal but highly inadvisable. <\/p>\n Cracking down on underground \u201cresearch peptide\u201d labs in countries such as China has proved to be extremely difficult for authorities.<\/p>\n According to Chris Pereira, an expert on Chinese manufacturing, counterfeiters \u201cwill disappear right after they\u2019ve done selling. Even if the websites get closed down, three more would pop up\u201d. <\/p>\n Social media companies are also playing their part by restricting the word \u201cretatrutide\u201d from appearing in search results. <\/p>\n However, users have begun to use misspellings such as \u201cretattrutide\u201d and coded language to avoid being detected. <\/p>\n Professor Donal O\u2019Shea, HSE lead for obesity, has begun posting videos on Tiktok in an attempt to educate young people of the facts behind weight-loss drugs<\/a> and other substances being marketed online.<\/p>\n Anti-obesity jabs are growing in popularity<\/p>\n GETTY<\/p>\n \u201cIf you look at TikTok you\u2019ll see these hyper-lean young men with six-packs, prominent veins and muscles \u2014 the kind of physiques impossible to achieve without abusing these drugs,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n \u201cRetatrutide isn\u2019t even a drug yet as it\u2019s not licensed or approved. It\u2019s completely outside the regulatory framework as things currently stand. <\/p>\n \u201cPeople are taking something that\u2019s still in development and whose full effects are not yet understood.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019ve spent the last six months on TikTok<\/a> with my team of scientists to try to debunk some of the myths \u2014 the misinformation out there that is bonkers.\u201d<\/p>\n A significant problem is that it is relatively simple for counterfeiters to make the drugs. Retatrutide\u2019s chemical structure was made public in an open-access academic paper in 2022, and the following year Eli Lilly published early data suggesting that the drug reduced body weight by up to 24 per cent in 48 weeks. Counterfeiters then started churning out copies of the drug.<\/p>\n O\u2019Shea added that tighter regulation to curb the sale of drugs still in clinical trials was urgently needed.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s a phenomenally grey area,\u201d he said. \u201cIf a doctor went on to social media to sell something like retatrutide, it would be completely breaking their code of professional conduct. <\/p>\n \u201cHowever, those in the aesthetic [beauty industry] remain unregulated, despite the serious risks their practices can pose to the public.\u201d<\/p>\n On fitness forums some users admit they have suffered from side-effects. \u201cI\u2019ve been on reta since the end of July and everything was going perfectly until about a month ago,\u201d one user said. <\/p>\n![\"Close-up](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/\/855a5e59-7a9e-40c2-b284-b07d1654f710.jpg\")
<\/p>\n
![\"Grainne](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/\/7a4e24d9-3dae-4041-9d4c-237c4aeda515.jpg\")
<\/p>\n