At least 82 people have died in the United Kingdom after taking drugs for diabetes and weight loss, according to the country’s regulatory agency for medicines, the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA). The deaths are linked to drugs that operate on the GLP-1RA receptor called semaglutides, which include Mounjaro, Wegovy, and Ozempic – all drugs that have surged in popularity over recent years for treating obesity and type-2 diabetes.
The MHRA data emerges from medical reports recording adverse reactions to drugs. The reports do not indicate whether the drug is actually responsible for the deaths, if it is merely incidental, or whether any underlying conditions unrelated to it could have played a role.
Similar incidents have been reported in the United States, where 162 deaths have been linked to the drugs as of last year. These were flagged through the FDA’s Adverse Event Report System (FAERS), in which doctors, nurses, patients and manufacturers can record adverse reactions to medications, or when someone suffers a reaction after taking a drug. Much like MHRA’s reports, the FAERS data does not prove one way or the other if the drugs are to blame for the deaths, although that remains a cause for concern among experts. Since 2018, FAERS has recorded over 60,000 adverse reactions to this kind of medicine, with over 10,000 of them classified as “serious.”
Over sixty lawsuits have been filed in the United States against semaglutide manufacturers like Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, with patients alleging that they suffered severe side effects and were not properly informed of the risks. One plaintiff’s complications led to having his gallbladder removed after suffering severe gastrointestinal pain. Novo Nordisk has said that the suits are without merit and that it intends to “vigorously defend against these claims.”
Prescriptions for GLP-1 agonist drugs have doubled every year since 2019, according to KFF, which also conducted a poll finding that one in eight adults in the United States have tried some form of them as of May 2024.
