Nearly 200 deaths linked to weight-loss drugs Ozempic and Mounjaro in the UK
The UK's medicines regulator has recorded nearly 200 deaths linked to popular weight-loss drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Mounjaro. Officials emphasize that these reports do not confirm the drugs caused the deaths, noting that millions of prescriptions have been issued safely.
Why it matters
As GLP-1 drugs surge in popularity, monitoring their safety profile is critical for public health, though correlation in adverse event reporting does not imply causation.
TOI Correspondent from London: There have been nearly 200 deaths linked to the use of anti-obesity drugs Mounjaro and Wegovy in the UK, as well as over 150,000 reports of adverse side effects.Figures published by the UK medicines regulator the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) show thousands of reports have been made about all of the GLP-1 weight-loss drugs available through the NHS.According to the MHRA Yellow Card scheme, which allows healthcare professionals, the public, and pharmaceutical companies to report the side-effects of drugs, there have been 59 deaths linked to semaglutide, which is known by the brand names Ozempic and Wegovy. Eleven of these deaths were cardiac disorders.The MHRA, however, pointed out that a reported reaction or a fatal outcome does not necessarily mean that it was caused by the medicine, only that the reporter has a suspicion it may have been.
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