Doctors are warning about a little known deadly side effect linked to weight loss shots after treating a patient with liver failure.
The 24-year-old teacher had been taking a high dose of Mounjaro for weight loss, which works in a similar way as Ozempic.
Seven months after starting the drug, she began suffering from extreme vomiting, nausea and stomach pains — prompting her to rush to the ER.
Tests showed the unnamed patient had ‘alarming’ liver damage that could have killed her within days if it had not been reversed.
A woman in Kuwait suffered a liver injury after taking Mounjaro for seven months (stock image)
The patient, who was obese and had a BMI of 34, had ‘alarming’ levels of liver enzymes, proteins that help break down bile and toxins.
This was a sign that her organ was failing and she was admitted to the ICU where she was given a plasma transfusion to flush out the toxins in her blood.
She was referred to a transplant team because if left untreated, she could have suffered full blown liver failure, and a transplant would have been her only chance of survival.
Writing in the European Journal of Case Reports, doctors from Kuwait who treated her said Mounjaro was ‘likely the susceptible cause.’
Last year, a 37-year-old patient in Seattle was treated for similar liver injury after taking the same drug. The doctors dubbed her condition ‘drug induced liver injury.’
Experts don’t know exactly what causes the rare side effect, though they believe high doses of the drugs reduce the amount of fat in the liver.
If this happens too quickly, it could kill healthy cells, leading to injury.
Paradoxically, some studies have even indicated that tirzepatide, Mounjaro’s active ingredient, could actually treat liver failure.
The patient in the case report, who had given birth to her first child the year before, had been been taking a 12-milligram dose of Mounjaro after working her way up from a low dose.
Doses start at 2.5 milligrams and go up to 15 milligrams maximum.
When the patient first went to the ER in early July, her liver function tests were normal, and she responded well to fluids and IV medications.
She was discharged but returned to the hospital two days later with the same symptoms, as well as low blood sugar.
Scans when the woman was admitted showed that her pancreas and other organs were normal, but that the liver appeared to be slightly enlarged.
She tested negative for hepatitis, herpes and other viruses which have previously been linked to liver inflammation.
Doctors diagnosed her with an acute liver injury, or a rapid deterioration in liver function due to damage or stress to the organ.
She was admitted to the intensive care unit and kept in the hospital for 10 days before her liver function improved and she was stable enough to go home.
The patient, who was treated in Kuwait, was advised not to take Mounjaro. By the time she was released, her BMI dropped from 34 to 25.
The above graph shows deaths linked to semaglutide and tirzepatide by year. Semaglutide is the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy while tirzepatide is used in drugs including Zepbound. Yellow is used for 2024 to indicate the data is incomplete
Tirzepatide was not shown to cause liver injury in clinical trials, and this is also not mentioned on its warning label.
But doctors say that the rapid weight loss it causes could ‘overload’ the liver and cause inflammation — leading to the injury.
During weight loss, fat is sent from other parts of the body to the liver where it is broken down into a substance that can be used by cells.
But if too much is sent at once or a lot is sent continuously over a longer timespan, the organ can become ‘overworked’ — triggering complications.
Acute liver injury has previously been recorded after bariatric surgery — such as a gastric bypass, which reduces the size of the stomach — which doctors have also linked to rapid weight loss.
Writing in the paper, the physicians at Adan Hospital Kuwait said: ‘The [time] relationship of tirzepatide and acute liver injury makes it likely the susceptible cause.’
They added: ‘This case underscores the need for further research and frequent following of liver enzymes when using tirzepatide for weight loss.’
