Weight loss drugs like Ozempic not linked with suicidal thoughts, EU drugs regulator finds

There is no evidence to suggest a link between the use of weight loss drugs like Ozempic and suicidal thoughts, the EU’s drugs regulator has found.

The European Medicines Agency (EMA)’s drug safety committee, PRAC, evaluated the risk of possible side effects in people who have used a class of drugs known as GLP-1, after Iceland reported three cases of thoughts of self-harm and suicide in people taking either semaglutide or liraglutide.

The drugs help control blood sugar levels and reduce the risk of heart disease in people with type 2 diabetes, and are also approved for prescription to overweight people for weight management.

Five drugs were reveiwed in all: Dulaglutide, exenatide, liraglutide, lixisenatide and semaglutide. Brands included Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy, Eli Lilly's Trulicity, Sanofi's Suliqua, AstraZeneca's Bydureon and Novo's Rybelsus and Saxenda.

The committee analysed results of two studies into the link, one of which was carried out by the EMA, as well as clinical trials and post-marketing surveillance data.

“The results did not support a causal association between the use of GLP-1 receptor agonists and this risk,” the committee wrote in a statement released friday.

The finding comes after a similar preliminary review by the U.S. Federal Drugs Agency, which announced in January that it had found no link.

But the American agency said officials couldn’t definitively rule out that “a small risk may exist” and that they would continue to look into reports regarding more than a dozen drugs, including Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro.