① After a long period of review, there is no evidence that GLP-1 drugs such as Novo Nordisk's “weight loss drug” Wegovy increase the risk of suicide or self-harm; ② The EMA Risk Assessment Committee analyzed medical records, clinical trials, post-marketing monitoring data, and various other studies, and finally came to the above conclusion.
Financial Services, April 12 (Editor: Niu Zhanlin) On Friday local time, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) announced that after a long period of review, there is no evidence$Novo-Nordisk A/S (NVO.US)$GLP-1 drugs such as Wegovy, its “magic drug for weight loss”, increase the risk of suicide or self-harm. Before the US stock market, Novo Nordisk's stock price rose by about 0.7%.
The EMA Risk Assessment Committee notes that regulators have analyzed the health records of people taking these drugs, but much evidence does not support the idea that weight loss drugs cause patients to commit suicide or self-harm. The agency added that it will continue to pay attention to this in the future.
As part of the review, the EMA Risk Assessment Committee analyzed medical records, clinical trials, post-marketing surveillance data, and various other studies, and finally reached these conclusions.
It is worth noting that EMA's review drugs are not included$Eli Lilly and Co (LLY.US)$The company Mounjaro and Zepbound are also the best-selling weight loss medications on the market.
GLP-1 drugs have been used as prescription drugs for diabetes for 15 years, but they have only recently been used for weight loss. The EMA investigation also included Eli Lilly's Trulicity and$AstraZeneca (AZN.US)$Byetta et al.
Earlier, there were reports that some patients said that after taking Wegovy, Ozempic, and similar weight loss drugs, they had thoughts of suicide and self-harm, as well as negative effects such as depression. This has drawn great attention from regulators in various countries, and has cast a shadow over the hearts of obese patients. Although these drugs are indeed powerful tools for weight loss, life is still more important than weight.
By July of last year, the EMA announced the launch of a review of three Novo Nordisk products. Authorities said they had retrieved and analyzed about 150 reports of possible suicides and self-harm thoughts.
GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1) belongs to a class of gut-secreted hormones known as intestinal insulin. It is usually secreted when the body ingests food. Its effects include regulating insulin secretion, gastric emptying, and suppressing appetite. The principle of action of GLP-1 diet pills is to achieve the goal of weight loss by suppressing the patient's appetite and slowing the emptying rate of the stomach.
EMA's findings are consistent with research previously published in the top international medical journal Nature Medicine. According to the study released in January, there is no evidence that GLP-1 weight loss drugs such as Wegovy pose a risk of suicide to patients.
American researchers found that after studying electronic medical record data on 1.8 million patients with type 2 diabetes or obesity, the researchers believed that the use of GLP-1 drugs was unrelated to increased suicidal thoughts; in fact, the drug reduced suicidal thoughts.
The researchers compared nearly 53,000 Wegovy patients to the same number of other weight loss drug users. It was found that in the first six months of using Wegovy, 0.11% of Wegovy users reported having suicidal thoughts for the first time. In contrast, 0.43% of patients using bupropion, naltrexone, orlistat, topiramate, phentermine, or setmelanotide had suicidal thoughts.
Editor/jayden