Incidents
Washington Poison Center Logs 543 GLP-1 Calls, Double Last Year's Pace
By News Desk ·
Key takeaways
- The Washington Poison Center received 543 calls involving GLP-1 drugs between January and September 2026, up from 272 in the same period of 2025.
- Poison center official Jimmy Leonard said tenfold dosing mistakes, such as taking 2.5 milligrams instead of 0.25 milligrams, are the most common reason for calls about approved GLP-1s.
- Eli Lilly is developing retatrutide and plans to seek FDA approval next year.
The Washington Poison Center received 543 calls involving GLP-1 drugs between January and September 2026, double the 272 calls it logged in the same period of 2025, Yahoo reported on November 4, 2026. The Washington Poison Center is a nonprofit that provides free, confidential poison guidance around the clock to Washington State residents and healthcare professionals.
Inside the 543 GLP-1 Calls
The center's calls cover medication errors with approved drugs as well as concerns about unregulated products sold online. Jimmy Leonard of the Washington Poison Center said dosing mistakes are the most frequent reason people call. "The usual issues are the tenfold overdoses, where people say, 'I was supposed to start on 0.25 milligrams, and then I accidentally took 2.5 milligrams,'" Leonard said. Such errors can cause significant vomiting and an inability to keep liquids down, he said.
Hayley Lithwick told the outlet she started on Zepbound and lost weight, then lost insurance coverage after changing jobs and turned to the gray market for retatrutide. She paid about $200 for what she believed was a month's supply and received vials of powder with no instructions. "I was very sketched out, but I kind of felt that there wasn't really a choice because I didn't want to gain all this weight back," Lithwick said. She later determined she likely doubled her intended dose when she mixed and injected the product.
Leonard said retatrutide is not meant to be sold for human consumption and is marketed online as a research chemical. "We have some that potentially [are] contaminated with other products that can cause really bad, potentially liver failure or other end-organ damage," he said. Eli Lilly is developing retatrutide and plans to seek FDA approval next year.
Washington Poison Center's Wider Caseload
According to akta.pro company records, the organization fields more than 120,000 calls per year from individuals and healthcare professionals, and in 2024 its staff provided advice to more than 60,000 patients. The same records state that nearly 93% of calls received from individuals are safely addressed at home, and that the center estimates it helped avoid nearly $24 million in immediate and direct healthcare costs in 2024 by preventing unnecessary emergency visits and treatments.
The records also show the center expanded community outreach in 2026 through public health alerts on emerging threats including teen diphenhydramine overdoses and seasonal mushroom poisoning campaigns. In September 2026 it secured Kaiser Permanente as Presenting Partner for its 70th Anniversary celebration.
Retatrutide's Regulatory Path
Eli Lilly's plan to seek FDA approval for retatrutide next year is the dated step the company has set out. The Washington Poison Center's warnings about online sales of the unapproved product continue alongside that effort.