RIPPING open her package Paige Osprey pulls out what she hopes will be the answer to her weight loss woes.
But it’s not the 31-year-old’s usual delivery of the pharmacy approved weight loss jab Mounjaro.
It is a simple looking glass vial filled with 10ml of clear fluid marked “research purposes only”, alongside syringes and tamper proof needles.
For Paige, who has battled obesity all her life, this unapproved drug is her last ditch solution to her post Christmas weight-gain.
Having lost four stone while using Mounjaro, admin staffer Paige went cold turkey off the drug in November to enjoy Christmas.
However, In just two months she has gained as many stone and is now taking drastic measures, taking the illegal weight loss drug retatrutide, known as Triple G or Reta, dubbed the ‘Godzilla’ of weight loss drugs.
Paige says: “The rapid weight gain was terrifying and so disappointing after I had come so far.
“I am now so desperate to stay slim so I will be using Reta, it’s worth the risk.”
Reta is produced by Eli Lilly, the same company which produces Mounjaro, but has not yet been licensed by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
The drug is currently only available to people taking part in clinical trials and lab researchers, meaning drugs flooding the black market are almost definitely dangerous fakes, experts warn.
Early studies suggest it could help people shed a quarter of their body weight – nearly double the effect of Wegovy and Ozempic, which contains semaglutide.
Unlike those drugs, the experimental medication targets three hormones linked to hunger and weight – earning it the nickname ‘Triple G’. It not only targets hunger but also metabolism.
HOW DOES RETATRUTIDE WORK?
Early studies suggest retatrutide could help people shed a quarter of their body weight in under a year – nearly double the effect of Wegovy and Ozempic (semaglutide).
Unlike standard slimming jabs, the experimental drug targets three different hormones linked to hunger and weight, earning it the nickname “Triple G”.
By doing this, it reportedly not only slashes appetite but also speeds up metabolism.
Dr Leyla Hannbeck, of the Independent Pharmacies Association, told Sun Health: “The popularity of these weight loss jabs means there are many criminal gangs posing as pharmacies or labs that are involved in the distribution of fake GLP-1 drugs online, including retatrutide.
“We are very worried for patient safety as these fake medicines can cause serious harm.”
Paige bought the generic injection online from sites, known as the grey market, because they sell body building medication, generic weight loss drugs and other fitness and bio hacking all ‘unapproved medication’.
Sites can sell the unlicensed drug for for ‘research purposes only’ but it is illegal to sell them with the understanding or suspicion that they are for human use.
“I know it’s still in human trials,” she says.
“The drug I bought isn’t from Eli Lilly but a generic version. I know it’s a risk using an injection marked research purposes only with minimal instructions.
“It’s the only option I have left. It’s just how far the skinny jab spiral has pushed me.
“It’s a dicey decision but I feel I have no other option.”
‘Do NOT buy dangerous retatrudtide online,’ warns top GP
Dr Hussain Al-Zubaidi, of the Royal College of GPs, says:
“Retatrutide is currently an investigational, once-weekly triple-hormone agonist that remains in clinical trials and is not a licensed medicine. It should not be bought, sold or used outside authorised research or a clinician-supervised prescription.
“Purchasing injections or ‘peptides’ through Facebook or unregulated suppliers is dangerous.
“Products sold on the grey market are frequently counterfeit, incorrectly dosed, contaminated or prepared in non-sterile conditions, and that puts people at risk of serious harm including infections, allergic reactions and unexpected drug interactions. The manufacturer and regulators have warned about these exact dangers.
“Although early trials have reported large average weight losses with retatrutide, the full safety profile, appropriate dosing for different people, and long-term effects are still being established in controlled studies.
“That’s precisely why the drug must remain inside regulated trials or be prescribed and monitored by qualified clinicians, so adverse effects are recognised and managed, and vulnerable people aren’t exposed to avoidable harm.
“If readers see offers to buy unlicensed weight-loss injections online, they should not engage with the seller and should report the post and the account to the platform and to the MHRA (or their local regulator).”
Paige lost four stone on the hit weight loss injectable Mounjaro last year, dropping from 14st 1lb to 9st 4lb in five months and falling from a dress size 18 to an eight.
She says: “I felt amazing. It was a weight loss miracle. I was a size eight for the first time since I was 13 years old.
“I felt sexy and slim, the food noise stopped and I was full of confidence.”
Paige admits she was convinced short term use of the jab meant that she wouldn’t fall back into her old habits.
“I was desperate to celebrate Christmas for the first time ever as a skinny girl without worrying about weight gain,” she says.
“I thought I deserved that so I came off the jab confident my fat days were behind me.”
But when Paige stepped on the bathroom scale on New Year’s Day, her confidence shattered as the digital numbers raced past 9st 4lb and stopped at 11st 3lb.
“I had gained two stone in just two months. The weight came back faster than I had lost it on the jab.”
Paige struggled with her mental health as the familiar cycle of self-loathing returned.
“No one told me that coming off the jab for just two months could cause such extreme rebound,” she says.
“I feel like I was sold half a story and left to deal with the consequences.
“I just wanted to enjoy Christmas and then hit the gym. I knew I might gain a few pounds, but half of what I’d lost was devastating.”
The office worker says her weight gain triggered memories of a lifelong battle with obesity, failed surgery and years of punishing workouts.
Paige was always the ‘fat girl’ at school and by 18 weighed 22st 1lb and wore a size 24.
“I felt like a failure because I couldn’t control the food noise and as a teenager I wasn’t given the tools to cope,” she says.
At just 22, her obesity was so severe she was placed on the NHS waiting list for surgery.
In June 2020, Paige, then 18st 10lb, underwent a £7,000 gastric sleeve operation on the NHS at Solihull Hospital.
“I remember waking up and instantly regretting it,” she says.
“I felt nauseous and realised I’d never learned how to control my weight properly.”
Despite vomiting regularly and surviving on bite size portions, Paige lost nine stone.
“The weight fell off, I exercised constantly and went from a size 20 to a size eight,” she remembers.
However, her dream of staying a size eight was cut short when she developed a hernia, causing her gastric sleeve to fail.
She explains: “I suffered weight recidivism, which is when complications like a hernia after a gastric sleeve cause patients to plateau and regain weight.”
A desperate Paige worked out up to four times a week but her body no longer responded.
“The gastric sleeve didn’t stop the food noise,” she says.
“Once the restrictions were gone, my body could eat more high fat foods and keep the weight on.”
By January last year, despite multiple diets and gym visits, Paige was back to a size 16-18.
Paige started Ozempic in January, paying £160 for a month’s supply.
“Within three hours a sudden peace came over me. The food noise was quiet,” she says.
“I lost 2st 3lbs but plateaued and regained a stone on Ozempic.”
That and debilitating nausea and exhaustion forced her to switch to Mounjaro in May.
“Mounjarno made me feel great and the weight came off even faster,” she says.
“In three months she lost 3st 4lbs. I had some initial nausea but it disappeared and Mounjanro didn’t cause me to plateau,” she says.
By August, Paige admits she was so reliant on Mounjaro she began stockpiling it after prices rose.
“Mounjaro was my miracle drug and I forked out £1,200 to get me through to the end of the year,” she says.
When she hit 9st 4lb in September and maintained it through October, Paige felt her weight loss war was finally over.
“I stopped the jab for two months to enjoy Christmas,” she says.
“Instead, within a week, the ‘food noise’ came screaming back.”
Paige noticed her clothes felt tighter in early December but planned to restart Mounjaro in January and wasn’t worried.
By Boxing Day, Paige says she felt uncomfortably larger and found herself constantly snacking on creamy and fatty treats.
“Off the jab I felt like I’d morphed into a different woman,” she says.
WHAT IS THE GREY WEB?
Online sites sell peptides, fitness injections and generic forms of weight loss injectables including semaglutide and tirzepatide as well as reta and are known as the grey market because these drugs have not been approved for human use.
The generic products usually come from China often in a powder form or vial with limited labelling. Many have to be reconstituted with a sterile solution by the user.
These sites use a legal loophole promoting and selling the products for ‘research purposes only’.
It’s not illegal to sell the item for ‘research’ but it is illegal to sell it knowingly for human use or suspected human use.
“I was scoffing more food and couldn’t control the hunger pangs.
“I felt fat again and emotionally out of control. The confidence I had on the jab was replaced with sweat inducing fear.”
At the same time, Paige began reading about people who’d reached their goal weight, come off the skinny jab, rapidly regained weight and then struggled when they went back on it.
Experts warn that when people stop weight loss jabs without changing how they eat or exercise, hunger hormones surge, metabolism slows and weight regain can kick in fast.
Biologically, the body thinks it’s being starved and goes into defence mode.
That means when people restart the jab, appetite is suppressed again, but the body is already primed to cling on to fat, making second time weight loss slower and harder.
Studies suggest almost half of people who stop using weight loss injections will end up restarting them and have different results depending on which injectable they use and how significant their original weight loss was.
I know the risk and I am juggling unpleasant side effects with restarting my weight loss
Paige Osprey
“So when I weighed myself on New Year’s Day my worry became a stampede of fear,” she says.
“I had a friend who went back on Mounjaro and instead of losing around a stone a month was losing just a few pounds every four weeks.
“That was the trigger that made me realise I needed to take drastic action.
“I’d lived through a failed gastric sleeve surgery. I tasted real hope on Mounjaro and I wasn’t going to spiral back into a new black hole of self loathing.”
Instead, Paige researched retatrutide and found it on the so-called ‘grey market’ online.
“I knew another girl who was using it and getting amazing results, so I ordered the research only drug and started using it,” she says.
“Unlike the pre prepared Mounjaro pens, the so called Reta comes in a vial and I have to draw up the injection myself.
“It’s scary and I don’t know if it really is retatrutide or a variant.
Paige has been using the illegal jab for almost four weeks and has experienced nausea and increased hair thinning.
“I lost five pounds in the first week and another three pounds this week. I don’t know if it’s from the nausea or the injection,” she admits.
“I didn’t tell my GP. Most people buying jabs privately whether they are approved for use or not don’t I know my body.
“I made the decision to use this still unapproved drug for myself. It is in the final round of human trials in Britain and the USA. I know human trials wouldn’t be happening if it wasn’t ok.”
Eli Lilly’s specially patented form of the Retatruide jab will complete third round human trials this year both here and in the US.
The company will seek government approvals later this year to market the drug and the new godzilla of skinny jabs is expected to be available on prescription in Britain by 2027.
“I know the risk and I am juggling unpleasant side effects with restarting my weight loss,” she says.
“I am doing the right thing for me and that’s all I care about.”
Paige has now accepted to stay a size eight she may be on a form of the skinny jab all her life.
She adds: “I am the first wave of Brits users to face this reality, I tasted skinny and I want more at whatever cost.”
