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Popular weight loss drugs linked to higher risk of stomach paralysis

This recent archive picture, taken 17 August 2023 and distributed Tuesday 26 September 2023, shows a package with Ozempic medicine at a hospital in Bonheiden. The Belgian federal medicines agency (FAMHP-FAGG-AFMPS) recommends that doctors and pharmacies reserve the drug Ozempic as a priority for diabetics. There is limited availability of Ozempic due to an acute increase in demand. The drug is also popular as a slimming agent and is often prescribed off label for this purpose. The Step Young research program is running in the university hospitals of Brussels, Leuven and Antwerp. The Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk wants to determine whether injections with 2.4 milligrams of semaglutide, the active substance of the weight loss drug Ozempic, are safe and effective for losing weight in obese 6 to 12-year-old children. BELGA PHOTO DIRK WAEM (Photo by DIRK WAEM / BELGA MAG / Belga via AFP)

By Dennis Tarus | 06 Oct 2023

By AFP

Drugs like Ozempic, which have become increasingly popular for losing weight, heighten the
risk of certain severe gastrointestinal problems including stomach paralysis, according to a
study published Thursday.

The paper, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), looked at a
class of drugs called GLP-1 agonists that includes the brands Wegovy, Ozempic, Rybelsus and
Saxenda.

It then compared the rate of serious side effects to another class of weight loss drug,
bupropion-naltrexone.

The GLP-1 agonists were associated with an almost four times increased risk of stomach
paralysis, a nine times higher risk of pancreatitis and four times greater risk of bowel
obstruction.

These conditions can cause hospitalization and require surgery, depending on their severity.
"Given the wide use of these drugs, these adverse events, although rare, must be considered
by patients thinking about using them for weight loss," said lead author Mohit Sodhi, a
medical student at the University of British Columbia in Canada, in a statement.

"The risk calculus will differ depending on whether a patient is using these drugs for diabetes,
obesity or just general weight loss," he added. "People who are otherwise healthy may be less
willing to accept these potentially serious adverse events."

Originally developed for managing Type 2 diabetes, GLP-1 agonists have soared in popularity
in recent years as a means to lose weight, mainly through "of-label" use.

Saxenda and Wegovy were approved for weight loss in 2020 and 2021, but the clinical trials
used to greenlight them involved too few people with too short a follow-up time to detect
very rare events, the researchers said.

Epidemiologist and co-author Mahyar Etminan said that while there had been anecdotal
reports of some patients using these drugs for weight loss and then having repeated episodes
of nausea and vomiting as a result of stomach paralysis, the current study was the first to
examine the question at a larger scale.

The authors trawled through US patient records searching for people prescribed liraglutide or
semaglutide -- the two main GLP-1 agonists -- or bupropion/naltrexone, a non GLP-1 weight
loss medication, to see how many went on to develop certain gastrointestinal conditions.
Their analysis included patients with a recent history of obesity, but excluded those with
diabetes or who had been prescribed another antidiabetic drug. Just over 5,400 records were
included in the final analysis.

"The results from this study highlight how important it is that patients access these drugs
only through trusted medical professionals, and only with ongoing support and monitoring,"
said Simon Cork, a senior lecturer at Anglia Ruskin University, who was not involved in the
research.

"It is vital that regulation is tightened to ensure that these drugs are only prescribed under
the right circumstances."