BROOKLYN — An employee at Mr. Green, a convenience store on Bedford Avenue in Brooklyn, sold a vial billed as retatrutide to a reporter for $95. The transaction did not require age verification, a medical questionnaire, or a prescription. Retatrutide has not been approved as safe and effective by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).

A sign in the window of the store reads "PEPTIDES SOLD HERE." A poster in the window advertises retatrutide for "weight management" and lists "cardiometabolic health" as a benefit. The poster states in small type that the peptides are "not for human consumption." An employee at the store said, "This sh** has been selling." The vial purchased bears the label of Indr Labs and includes a QR code linking to its website.

The Indr Labs website states its products are "for research use only" and requires online purchasers to acknowledge this disclaimer. The phrase does not appear on the vial itself. The website also promotes "discreet packaging." After inquiries, Indr Labs changed its website to require a password for access to lab reports.

Jonathan Darrow, an expert in drug regulation who previously taught at Harvard Medical School, commented on the sale. "I was surprised that there would be a company so openly selling a product that's not approved by the FDA," Darrow said. He asked, "What argument could they possibly be putting forth to justify this?" Federal law prohibits the commercial sale of experimental drugs to the public.

The certificate of analysis for retatrutide presented on the Indr Labs website included a graph that appeared to identify the sample as tirzepatide. The document indicated the analysis was performed by Vanguard Laboratory. Tori Johnson, operations manager at Vanguard Laboratory, stated that the lab did not issue the certificates. "We did not issue these, we do not have a client called INDR Labs," Johnson said.

The FDA has warned consumers against purchasing retatrutide labeled for research use, stating that such products "are of unknown quality and may be harmful to their health." America's Poison Centers has tracked a sharp rise in reports of toxicities attributed to retatrutide. Eli Lilly is developing retatrutide to treat obesity and type 2 diabetes. In clinical trials, the drug has shown it could be more effective than the most potent weight-loss drugs approved by the FDA. The Indr Labs website claims its peptides possess at least "98% purity."