Weight loss injections have been found to be connected with a death every week since January, according to the latest shocking UK data.
Since January, 24 deaths associated with popularised weight loss jabs, such as Wegovy, Mounjaro and Ozempic, have been recorded by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
As of June, the current figure stands at 106 deaths, after 82 were recorded back at the start of the year.
The startling figure amounts to more than one fatality a week, while around 1.5million Britons are expected to use the drugs.
The drugs are now available on the NHS for qualifying patients
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Pharmacist Thorrun Govind said: “Weight loss injections are growing in popularity and widespread use, so it’s hardly surprising we’re seeing more reporting side effects.
“This doesn’t automatically mean weight loss injections are unsafe,” the expert told The Sun.
Varieties of the drug are now readily available and deployed to certain qualifying patients with specific conditions, including type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure and heart disease.
Medications like Mounjaro (tirzepatide) were first designed to assist diabetics with their debilitating symptoms and, as of late, have become popularised as a way to shed pounds by suppressing appetite.
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In the report, the MHRA indicated that tirzepatide was associated with 38 fatalities by June - a startling jump from 18 in January.
Liraglutide, which is offered to patients under the brand-name Saxenda, was linked with 37 deaths. Meanwhile, semaglutide, which is used in Wegovy, was connected to 31 deaths.
In June, the jabs became available on the NHS for those with obesity, although the majority of users have sourced the injections privately.
As their popularity soars, the drugs’ side effects have been increasingly investigated by medics, ranging from nausea and vomiting to more serious conditions, such as pancreatitis.
Tirzepatide was associated with 38 fatalities by June, according to the MHRA
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The drugs have received a slew of criticism by medical chiefs as users attempt to get their hands on the jabs through illegal dealings.
On Wednesday, the British Medical Journal demanded an increased crackdown on users running to the black market to get their hands on weight loss jabs that are still being tested in clinical trials.
Addressing the London Assembly’s health committee, a group of doctors and pharmacists indicated that “poor access” to the drugs via the NHS, compounded by the recent price hike of Mounjaro, drove patients to seek the medication elsewhere.
Founder of an online provider for the weight loss jabs Sokratis Papafloratos reported that the industry “really underestimates the problem and misunderstands it”.