Aussies have been issued a warning about Ozempic as the number of patients being hospitalised for mistakenly overdosing on weight loss medications soars in one state.
The NSW Poisons Information Centre received 332 distressed calls in 2024 from patients using semaglutide – a type 2 diabetes injection that trades under brand names such as Ozempic and Wegovy.
Calls seeking advice on poisonings from semaglutide spiked by 1,176 per cent in four years, the Daily Telegraph reported
Hospital management was required in 21 per cent of cases. In 2020, just 26 residents called the centre for help.
NSW Poisons Information Centre senior specialist Genevieve Adamo said semaglutide was a GLP-1 agonist used to treat type 2 diabetes, but more recently had gained popularity among the public for off-label use for weight loss.
‘To prevent accidental medication errors from GLP-1 agonists, NSW PIC advises the community to always write down or mark off the dose on a chart and always follow the instructions on the label,’ she said.
‘Ensure your doctor, diabetes educator, nurse or pharmacist has given you clear instructions on how to use your medicine, particularly on how to load a dose and inject correctly.’
Common symptoms of semaglutide overdose include persistent nausea, vomiting, and diarrhoea, as well as intense headaches and hypoglycaemia (blood sugar).
In a disturbing trend more than one in five overdose patients required hospital treatment (stock image)
More serious side effects that require immediate medical attention include acute pancreatitis and gallstones.
Last year, the PBS recorded more than 2.5 million prescriptions across Australia, a massive jump from 45,705 scripts in 2020 when the drug was first listed on the PBS.
The Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) has not approved Ozempic for weight loss, while Mounjaro and Wegovy can be prescribed for fat-loss purposes in ‘very limited’ cases.
The TGA announced this month that Novo Nordisk, the pharmaceutical company that supplied Ozempic, had doubled the dose contained in the pre-filled pens from 1.5mL to 3mL.
The new 3 mL pen landed on chemist shelves this month and injects a slightly larger volume per dose.
The TGA urged doctors to warn Ozempic users to ‘be careful’ and check the dose before administering it.
Earlier this month, official data revealed more than 100 deaths in the United Kingdom had now been linked to blockbuster weight loss jabs.
Two of the victims were people in their 20s, according to a MailOnline analysis of logs kept by the medicines safety watchdog.
There has been a large increase in the number of people overdosing on weight loss drugs (stock image)
The findings come as the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency confirmed at least ten people in the UK who used the injections have died from pancreatitis, a life-threatening inflammation of the pancreas.
The country’s Royal Osteoporosis Society has also linked weight loss drugs to osteoporosis and increased risk of bone fractures.
