Trump may be mystery patient in odd case of 79yo getting experimental obesity drug

“Something very wrong”

The public notice of the expanded access is suspicious, omitting much of the information that such a notice would normally include, such as the conditions that might qualify a patient for such access.

“Only people in the know would be able to find this [notice], using the drug name,” Richard Klein, who helped launch the FDA’s expanded access program in the 1980s, told Stat. “There is something very wrong with the way this is listed because no one would know what it is from the listing, or what it’s for.”

Stat asked both the White House and the Department of Health and Human Services if Trump is the patient, and if he has obstructive sleep apnea and pulmonary hypertension, which were not included in a memo of his most recent medical evaluation. White House spokesperson Kush Desai did not answer the question and deferred to the health department. HHS spokesperson Emily Hilliard also did not directly deny that Trump is the patient.

She provided a statement saying:

The FDA supports expanded access programs that can provide patients with serious or life-threatening conditions access to investigational treatments when no comparable or satisfying approved therapies are available. Each request is reviewed on a case-by-case basis based on the clinical circumstances and applicable statutory and regulatory requirements.

After this story was published, Desai posted on social media that the expanded access application, which had drawn interest from top health officials, “was not for the President.” Stat reporter Lizzy Lawrence replied, saying, “I asked you, the FDA, and HHS multiple times yesterday whether this application was for the President. No one answered my question directly.” Desai then seemed to confirm that no one had answered the question, calling it an “idiotic question.”

Over a dozen experts who spoke to Stat said it was highly unusual for a drug company to grant expanded use of a drug for common conditions to a single patient rather than a cohort of patients with a specified profile.

Lilly spokesperson Misty Fuller did not answer Stat’s questions, saying, “We make these decisions following all applicable regulations.” The NIH clinician who made the request, Muniyappa, also did not respond to questions.

This story was updated on June 23, 2026, to include the social media response from Kush Desai.

https://arstechnica.com/health/2026/06/trump-may-be-mystery-patient-in-odd-case-of-79yo-getting-experimental-obesity-drug/