Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., on Wednesday questioned the Trump administration over the mystery individual who got exclusive access to a new weight loss drug that is not available to the general public. 

Hassan penned a letter to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. expressing concern over reports that a “well-connected individual,” whom she suggested is President Donald Trump, received special, free access to the experimental weight loss drug retatrutide.

The New Hampshire Democrat shared the letter with MS NOW in an exclusive interview with “The Weeknight.”

“We’ve got somebody highly connected in this administration who’s making special deals for one person and it just speaks to the whole way this administration operates,” Hassan told MS NOW. “They’re thinking about the highly connected, the wealthy.”

In her letter to Kennedy, the congresswoman said she was concerned that the administration was “bending the rules” by giving an individual special access to the drug through the Food and Drug Administration.

“I am deeply concerned by new reporting that suggests you may be bending the rules of a federal program, and exerting improper political pressure, in order to provide a well-connected individual with free access to an exclusive prescription drug,” the senator wrote to Kennedy.

Hassan’s letter comes a day after Stat News reported that drug manufacturer Eli Lilly and the Food and Drug Administration allowed special access to retatrutide for a lone 79-year-old man in April through its “compassionate use” program. 

Noting that Trump was 79 years old in April, Hassan said in her letter to Kennedy, “Reporting suggests that you have used this pathway to provide a highly anticipated medication for obesity to a single VIP individual for free, without providing that opportunity to other Americans.”

“This decision to bend the rules comes as millions of Americans are clamoring for access to these kinds of life-changing drugs and are often struggling to pay for them,” Hassan wrote.

According to the FDA, the program is typically reserved for those with “a serious or immediately life-threatening disease or condition … when no comparable or satisfactory alternative therapy options are available.”

Retatrutide is not currently approved by the FDA for obesity. 

The White House denied Tuesday that Trump was the person who applied for access to the obesity drug, but Hassan wants to know if the patient is anyone closely associated with the Trump administration. She also wants to know who at DHS approved the individual’s application to receive the exclusive medication. 

In a statement to Stat, Eli Lilly said, “We make these decisions following all applicable regulations.”

Read Hassan’s letter to Kennedy below.

The post Sen. Maggie Hassan questions Trump administration over mystery weight loss drug patient appeared first on MS NOW.

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