Now Reading: UK regulator records 216 deaths linked to weight-loss drugs
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UK regulator records 216 deaths linked to weight-loss drugs
UK medicines regulator data record 59 reported deaths involving semaglutide, sold as Ozempic and Wegovy, and 120 involving tirzepatide, sold as Mounjaro. Liraglutide, marketed as Saxenda, has 37 reported deaths. The figures…
The Story in Brief
UK medicines regulator data record 59 reported deaths involving semaglutide, sold as Ozempic and Wegovy, and 120 involving tirzepatide, sold as Mounjaro. Liraglutide, marketed as Saxenda, has 37 reported deaths. The figures also include 48,148 adverse-reaction reports for semaglutide, 106,309 for tirzepatide and 4,528 for liraglutide.
The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency said a reported reaction or death does not prove the medicine caused it. Underlying illness may also be involved, and the reports should be viewed against millions of UK prescriptions. Most semaglutide reactions were gastrointestinal. The report follows inquests involving two women whose deaths were linked or partly linked to Mounjaro or GLP-1 medication.
The Indian Opinion
Claims that these medicines have caused hundreds of deaths overstate what the UK data establish. But dismissing the reports as routine side effects would be equally careless, especially when some cases involved dose increases and serious gastrointestinal or psychiatric reactions. The useful test is better evidence, not louder headlines: how many deaths and hospitalisations remain plausibly linked after medical review, and how does that compare with the millions of prescriptions?.
Source: timesofindia.indiatimes.com
This story was synthesised by AI from the source linked above.
