Confirmed Death Cases After Increasing Drug Dosage
A case of death from pancreatitis occurred in the United States after increasing the dose of the obesity treatment drug 'Wegovy' (generic name semaglutide).
According to the recent SCI-level international journal Cureus, a man in his 70s in the United States was hospitalized with acute pancreatitis after increasing the dose of semaglutide and eventually died. The 74-year-old man had type 2 diabetes, coronary artery disease, and obesity (BMI 31.7).
According to research conducted by Chebli Dager and internal medicine researchers at the University of Connecticut Farmington Campus, the man complained of severe upper abdominal pain and was diagnosed with severe pancreatitis. He had been using semaglutide for four years, and it was confirmed that he increased the drug dose from 0.25 mg to 0.5 mg four weeks before hospitalization.
After being diagnosed with severe pancreatitis, he was admitted to the intensive care unit but eventually died due to distributive shock, renal failure, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), and cardiac arrest.
The research team stated, "This patient experienced severe vomiting, nausea, and constipation after increasing the drug dose to 0.5 mg and then reduced the dose back to 0.25 mg, but it appears that he could not tolerate the high dose of semaglutide, which led to acute pancreatitis." They added, "Since he had not started any new drugs or used supplements or herbal medicines, drug-induced pancreatitis is suspected."
They continued, "According to most case reports, acute pancreatitis appeared as a side effect shortly after exposure to semaglutide, but this is the first reported case of acute pancreatitis occurring years after semaglutide use or after increasing the dose," and explained, "Further research is needed to investigate the possibility of late-onset pancreatitis as a side effect of semaglutide."
The paper also introduced additional cases related to the association between semaglutide use and acute pancreatitis. A 36-year-old woman in the United States visited the emergency room with sudden upper abdominal pain and was diagnosed with acute pancreatitis. She had been injecting semaglutide for weight loss for five weeks but had obtained it from an acquaintance without consulting a doctor.
After discontinuing the semaglutide injections and normalization of lipase levels, her symptoms greatly improved; however, the paper considered it highly likely that semaglutide was the cause of her acute pancreatitis as well.
Semaglutide became famous as it was used by Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, and the well-known American broadcaster Oprah Winfrey. It is a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist drug that increases glucose-dependent insulin secretion, inhibits glucagon secretion, delays hunger, and promotes weight loss.
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