After his suicide, a man's family wants a warning label on Ozempic
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
In the months before his death, Anthony seemed in good spirits: He had recently proposed to his girlfriend and been promoted at work. At Christmas, his oldest daughter had surprised him with the news that she was pregnant with his second grandchild.
But Anthony's sister, Merlene Hall — who asked that he be identified only by his first name to respect his children's privacy — said her brother became uncharacteristically quiet around the time he started taking Ozempic in February to manage his Type 2 diabetes. By early May, Anthony's family said, he seemed fatigued, and his newly sullen mood appeared to be getting worse.
"He's usually very charismatic, talking and joking. He's a pretty outgoing guy. But he was fairly quiet," his fiance, Carolyn Hasty, said.
On the morning of May 14, Anthony died by suicide at his home in Indiana.
Although he had experienced depression in the past, his family was shocked by his death and attributes it to Ozempic.
"I think the Ozempic was putting these suicidal thoughts in his mind," Hall said.
In this and most other cases of suicide, it is impossible to pinpoint a single cause, as a complex set of factors often interplay.However, as Ozempic and its sister medication, Wegovy, have skyrocketed in popularity, a small number of patients — some with a history of depression — have begun to report experiencing suicidal thoughts that they believe are a side effect of the drug.
The European Medicines Agency said in July that it was reviewing 150 reports of self-injury and suicidal thoughts from people who took GLP-1 receptor agonists, the drug class that includes Ozempic and Wegovy. The U.K.'s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency told Reuters that it, too, was reviewing safety data about the drugs following similar reports.
In the United States, the Food and Drug Administration's adverse event reporting system, or FAERS, had received 59 reports of suicidal ideation, six reports of suicide attemptsand four reports of suicide related to Ozempic as of June 30. Wegovy — which carries a warning about suicidal thoughts — had six reports of suicidal ideation and no reports of suicide or suicide attempts.
But those tallies are self-reported events and the FDA had not necessarily verified that they were caused by the medications. The numbers are also small relative to how many people take Ozempic: Data from Novo Nordisk, the maker of Ozempic and Wegovy, indicates that U.S. providers were writing about 60,000 new weekly Ozempic prescriptions as of April.
Three doctors who routinely prescribe Ozempic and Wegovy told NBC News they weren't noticing a link to suicidal thoughts. The doctors give expert advice to Novo Nordisk in exchange for financial compensation, but they do not speak on behalf of the company. NBC News identified them through their work with university-affiliated medical centers. It is common for doctors who specialize in weight management drugs to advise companies that make such medications.
Clinical trials also did not find an association between Ozempic and suicidal thoughts.
But Anthony's family believes Ozempic should come with a warning about self-injury or suicidal thoughts as a potential risk. The drug's prescribing label has no such information listed. Wegovy's label has a warning because it is approved for weight loss, and the FDA requires a warning about suicidal ideation for chronic weight management medications that work on the central nervous system.
Ozempic and Wegovy are both versions of the drug semaglutide at different dosages. The former is approved only for diabetes; any use of it for weight loss is considered off-label, according to the FDA.
Though Anthony was prescribed Ozempic for diabetes, he saw weight loss as a welcome side effect, his family said. He lost roughly 50 pounds over three months while taking the drug.
Hall reported Anthony's death to the FDA and to Novo Nordisk in June. The company reached out to his doctor for more information in July, according to correspondence reviewed by NBC News, but Hall does not know if Novo Nordisk has taken further action. Neither she nor Hasty are pursuing legal action.
Novo Nordisk said it cannot comment on individual cases but that it investigates all reports of adverse events. The company added that it remains confident in the benefit-risk profile of Ozempic and works closely with the FDA and other regulatory agencies to ensure that the product's label appropriately reflects its safety and efficacy.
"The totality of available evidence — which includes clinical studies and data from real world-use — does not suggest an increased risk of suicide or self-injurious behavior with Ozempic," Novo Nordisk said in a statement. "In completed Ozempic clinical studies, no events of suicide or self-injury were reported in patients treated with Ozempic."
The FDA, meanwhile, confirmed to Hall that it had received her report, but in response to an NBC News inquiry, the agency said it could not comment on specific cases. The FDA said it monitors the safety of drugs through surveillance and risk assessment programs to identify adverse events that did not appear in early trials.
"If a new safety signal for suicidal ideation/behavior is identified, the FDA will determine what actions are appropriate after a thorough review of the total body of evidence," said Chanapa Tantibanchachai, a press officer at the FDA.
Could suicidal thoughts be related to side effects of Ozempic, like eating less?
Anthony's family believes strongly that he would still be alive had he not started Ozempic.
"We all just said immediately, 'It has to be linked to this. It just has to be,'" Hasty said.
But in his case and others, determining whether the drug was to blame is difficult. Anthony had a thyroid disorder, Hall said, so she wonders if that may also have affected his mood. A few studies have suggested that such conditions might be linked to suicidal behavior, though a research analysis in 2021 concluded that the evidence was insufficient.
Anthony had also experienced anxiety and depression before he started Ozempic, although he had never attempted suicide in the past, Hall said. Still, his family said that the last time he'd lost roughly as much weight as he did on Ozempic — in April 2022 — he had told his fiance he was having suicidal thoughts.
"I came home and he was sitting in the kitchen and he said, 'Help me, babe, you got to help me. I just feel like killing myself,'" Hasty said.
Anthony's family said his longtime physician, who prescribed Ozempic to him, was aware of that history. But Anthony was not told that the drug might worsen his mental health, his family said. His doctor declined to comment.
"He really never should have been started on this," Hall said. "If the health care providers were informed about this properly, my brother would not have been a candidate for it, or he would have been watched closer."
The doctors interviewed said they have prescribed Ozempic to patients with a history of depression and have not observed any signs of suicidal thoughts that seem related to the medication. As far as they know, they said the medication doesn't contain active ingredients that induce suicidal thoughts.
"There is nothing in the drug that would cause someone to think about suicide," said Dr. Caroline Apovian, co-director of the Center for Weight Management and Wellness at Brigham and Women's Hospital, who sits on Novo Nordisk's scientific advisory board.
It is not standard to ask patients whether they're experiencing suicidal thoughts while taking Ozempic, since it's not mentioned in the prescribing label.
But Dr. Eduardo Grunvald, an obesity medicine physician at UC San Diego Health who consults for Novo Nordisk, said reports of suicide or suicidal thoughts are worth paying attention to, even if clinical trials have not shown an elevated risk.
"If you have a patient on these medications, it's worth asking about when you see them if their mood has changed," Grunvald said of Ozempic and Wegovy.
One possible explanation for why some people report feeling suicidal on Ozempic could be the change in eating habits it causes, according to Dr. Carolina Solis-Herrera, medical director of the Diabetes, Obesity and Endocrinology clinics at UT Health San Antonio.
Solis-Herrera, a scientific adviser for Novo Nordisk and member of the company's speaker bureau, said some people use food as a way to cope with depression or self-soothe, but Ozempic can decrease appetite so much that some people don't enjoy meals anymore.
"Food is pleasure," Solis-Herrera said. "When you take that away because now you're taking a medication that curbs your appetite, there might be some feelings of sadness."
Several studies of patients who have undergonebariatric surgery offer evidence for that hypothesis: Suicide rates are at least four times higher among that group than the general population.
But Grunvald said the theory isn't convincing.
"It's a big leap to go from not having that pleasure of eating to wanting to kill yourself," he said. "I don't think there's any scientific evidence that that might be the case."
Ozempic also has effects on brain chemistry.
Semaglutide mimics a hormone, GLP-1, that travels from the gut to the brain and decreases the activity of the brain's reward center. That may help explain why some people say Ozempic has decreased their urge to drink, smoke, shop or gamble. In some patients, the medication might even decrease the feeling of pleasure altogether, according to Apovian.
That could be a sign that Ozempic isn't the right drug for those individuals, she said, though drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy can also improve people's well-being.
"There are many, many people who come back and tell me that they feel great," Apovian said. "I just had one this morning: For the first time in her life, she doesn't have an eating disorder. She doesn't obsess about food constantly all day long. What this drug did for her was far and above better than any cognitive behavioral therapy she's used."
Should Ozempic come with a warning?
Anthony's family wants Ozempic to carry an even stronger warning about a risk of suicide than Wegovy already does: a black box warning from the FDA. This type of label comes on the packaging of medications with serious safety risks — not just the prescribing information for doctors — to notify the public about severe side effects.
"I'm not trying to say that I believe this medicine is a bad medicine overall. I think that it probably offers a lot of benefits to a lot of people," Hasty said. "But I believe that there is a subpopulation out there, a portion of this population that they're giving it to, that has to be more highly monitored and decide whether or not it's a good drug for them."
Hasty said Anthony didn't express any desire to kill himself during his last months. The two had known each other in high school, then reconnected on Facebook later in life. They were looking forward to their 40-year reunion this year, she said, and their classmates had planned a surprise to celebrate their engagement.
"His life mattered. It mattered to a lot of people," she said. "And I know he didn't want to die."
If you or someone you know is in crisis, call 988 to reach the Suicide and Crisis Lifeline. You can also call the network, previously known as the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline, at 800-273-8255, text HOME to 741741 or visit SpeakingOfSuicide.com/resources for additional resources.
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According to the article, the man is close to 60 years old, overweight, diabetic and has a history of admitting suicidal thoughts.
Really not enough information about the man's 6 decades of life to judge whether a drug was the deciding factor in his decision to commit suicide.
The US is #1 in obesity. Why?
Why are people in the US literally eating themselves to death?
Why is food considered a "reward" by our brain? Was it always this way or does it have something to do with all of the sugar that is added to our food? How about all of the chemicals sprayed on our wheat that is made into flour to make our baked goods?
I believe it would be highly beneficial for our medical communities to prescribe lifestyle changes, and dietary changes. Doctors need to be available for monthly check-ups to not only monitor physical health, but to give advice and support.
This program of prescribing drugs instead of addressing the underlying cause of mental and/or physical disease is profitable for the drug company, profitable for Wall Street investors and detrimental to the people who are relying on US medical professionals for help.
They have been doing exactly that for generations and we only get fatter. Thin people assume it’s a matter of will power or character or something, but the new drugs are very much validating the idea that it’s more complicated than that.
You can eat good, healthy food and still be fat if your body doesn’t know when to stop eating, or if you’re just hungry all the time. These drugs help with that.
You know what else helps with that? Discipline. And with that you don't need a drug with a long list of side effects that require other drugs to hide the side effects of the previous drugs.
Turns out that’s not enough. It’s actually a hormone issue, and that’s what these drugs address.
A person with the discipline would understand there is a hormone issue and work with it. Not rely on a drug with all these side effects.
Work with it how? I’m fascinated to hear your expertise on how to overcome hormone imbalances with mere “discipline.” Something medical science has struggled with for generations, you have somehow solved. Do tell!
What side effects, specifically, are you referring to?
However it needs to be dealt with minus the pills.
You don't pay attention to much do you? Next time one of these commercials come on pay attention. Read the little pamphlet that comes with your pills.
Why? What’s wrong with pills? Are you anti-pill? I mean I know some people here are anti-vaccine. Are you anti-pill, as well?
Why do you care what medicines other people take?
I don’t know if it matters to you, but these drugs are administered via subcutaneous injection.
Are you anti-needle? Or is it broader than that? Anti-drug? Anti-doctor? Anti-medicine? Just need to know who I’m talking to.
I’m curious how much medicine you disdain because of some minuscule chance of side effect.
By the way, do you know about the side effects of chronic obesity? They’re generally worse than whatever you’re going to get from taking one of these drugs.
heart disease, liver disease, joint damage, and the biggie....diabetes
In many cases the side effects are worse than what the pill is supposed to "cure".
In many cass the pill only treats symptoms. Not the actual illness.
Not all. Do your research.
The #1 killer in the US is stress. When I mentioned lifestyle changes, it needs to begin with identifying and evaluating causes of stress in a person's life. Some stresses are unavoidable, but sometimes there are techniques that are useful to mitigate some of the damages to mental and physical health and not elevate the damage with the over-reliance of medications that mask the problems - not treat them.
The new drugs are nothing more than a placebo if the other mental and physical issues are not identified and address.
One pill makes you larger
That’s true of anything, though. It’s true of any treatment or medication. You can take pain pills and feel a little better, but you may still need to remove a tumor. You can exercise, but if you eat too much food, you’ll still be fat.
It’s true of repairs to your house. E.g., painting over mold makes the walls look better, but you still have mold. You can put new coolant in your air conditioner, but if it leaks, you still have a problem.
So this is not new wisdom. There is this assumption - worse, it’s a prejudice - that everyone using these drugs to lose weight is a lazy person with no discipline, who is making no attempt to change anything else in their life.
Will there be some people like that? Of course, but again, that can be true in many situations. There is a social shame to being overweight and this enthusiastic bias is just another expression of it.
Are we talking about many cases, or this particular case? I’ll ask you again, are you anti-pill?
Not all what? Drugs? Of course not. But this seed and thread is about Ozempic and related meds. They are injected.
Do you have any response to the many questions I asked?
What enthusiastic bias are you talking about?
I have never been "thin" in my life unless I was literally starving myself. I usually maintained a healthy weight as long as I ate reasonably and kept up with the kids and housework and kept my stress levels under control. There was one time that I literally could not fall asleep for two days. I finally went to the clinic on base and the doctor prescribed a pill that allowed me to sleep. Best I remember, it was one pill and I was to report back if this situation recurred. It didn't.
Before I divorced my alcoholic husband, I was hemorrhaging blood for 3 weeks out of the month. My doctor put me on birth control pills to try to regulate my periods. After divorcing my husband, I quit hemorrhaging blood and never felt better in my life. I lost weight by just not being stressed all of the time. All the pills in the world were never going to solve the real problem - my mental and physical well-being required I never ever see or hear from the man again.
I explained this. Many people feel it necessary to preach about how simply taking a pill or getting a shot is not the solution to a problem. Although it sometimes actually is the solution, generally that is not the case with obesity. You are not the only one saying it. Others here have to.
Here’s the thing, though: it’s a straw man. Where is the person who is saying you can eat what you like, not exercise, and just take some medicine to be skinny? Who is saying that? No one that I can see.
These drugs are a tool. They are part of a process, not the whole thing. I have never heard of anyone representing them as anything else.
That's unique to you and your life, no one else's.
And many of those side effects are only potential side effects. They are not experienced by everyone, or even a majority of people, on a medication, and they may or may not be severe.
My allergy med can cause drowsiness, fatigue, dry mouth, stomach pain, and difficulty urinating. Difficulty urinating can become a medical emergency. It causes none of those issues for me.
My blood pressure med can cause dizziness, lightheadedness, and high serum potassium levels, which can lead to arrhythmias and potential cardiac arrest. It causes none of these issues for me.
If its side effects are regularly more dangerous than the condition being treated, a medication is either not approved for use, or is used in a limited manner and with caution. When doctors prescribe, they regularly weigh the risks of treatment versus the benefits. If the risks outweigh the benefits, they don't prescribe.
Because the topic is obesity, that is the topic I am addressing.
My only concern is with a person's overall well-being and they are getting the proper medical attention tailored to their individual needs.
I don't care what drugs they are prescribed. I am not against this drug. Time will tell if this drug turns out to be a benefit or is pulled from the market because of lawsuits.
No. Not all cats. WTF do you think I'm talking about.
Oh, I'm supposed to care you ask a question?
And should still be considered. Potential or not.
You should pay attention to the commercials and that little pamphlet that comes with your meds.
When I'm suffering acute stress...I lose weight because food nauseates me
Yeah, I'd say that's pretty much covered by that whole
thing, wouldn't you? You're talking as if doctors just willy-nilly write out scripts with no regard for side effects.
Which list potential side effects. BTW, where, exactly, do you think I got the list of potential side effects of my meds that I gave?
You're basically repeating yourself here. That adds little to the discussion.
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Well, I hear Kamala Harris repeats herself a lot, which is what you did, so if the fact that I quoted you repeating yourself without adding anything to your argument is a problem for you, look to your arguments.
You quoted YOU. Might I recommend you proofread your statements before clicking on the "Post Your Comment" button?
I’m not the only one who can’t tell. I think we’ve all tried to be generous and patient with you, giving you multiple chances to engage in a clear exchange of ideas, but you don’t seem interested. Everything you have written comes off as a bizarre anti-medicine rant.
I also quoted YOU. Read my post.
You DO know that "weighing risks versus benefits" IS "considering" side effects, yes?
You DO know that "read the pamphlet" and "think of the side effects" does not add any weight to your claim that
The pamphlets list all side effects, even the ones that hardly anybody has, and even side effects researchers aren't sure were caused by the medication. Sure, read the pamphlet. But to assume that one is going to have all of the side effects listed is irrational, and to make sweeping statements based on that irrational assumption is even more irrational and is fearmongering.
That's your hangup? Really?
No, Jeremy, it seems to be YOUR hangup. You're the one saying side effects should be considered, when they're already being considered.
That's too bad. I know a good natural cure for the nausea - pot. To me sometimes, that can be a cure-all to a lot of what ails ya!
Yes, it is a good cure. But the acute stress is good for me when I don't eat....I lost 50 pounds once due to acute stress.
That seems far more likely. Mood changes - especially anxiety and depression - are common with thyroid disease. Even without that obvious red flag, if you’re sort of chronically concerned about your general health, dieting, or body image, those things can promote depression and suicidal thoughts, too.
'It has to be linked to this. It just has to be,'" Hasty said.
People always want an easy target.
I am going to reserve judgement on this drug. It seems to be helping some people. Primary care providers should probably spend a little more time with their patients and actually pay attention to the drugs the patient is currently taking and for what reason. If you patient has been prescribed an anti-depressant from a mental health provider, pay attention to that. Is Ozempic the right drug? Maybe it is or maybe it isn't. But I do know that you shouldn't always have to have your pharmacist give you the skinny on the drug you were just prescribed. Your PCP should spend time with explaining what it does and what side effects to be aware of
Post hoc ergo propter hoc.
I don't think we should jump to blaming the drug for his suicide, nor for his depression, nor to blaming his doctors for prescribing it when there are no studies showing this is a side effect.
I have a few friends who take Ozempic, and they do report some troublesome nausea. But no increase in depression, from which both already suffered pre-Ozempic.
I take Metformin and the only side effect is going to the bathroom all the time.
Me too. Offda!
LOL!
My wife had nausea so bad she stopped taking it.
After an ex killed our son with a hibachi in a VW van, she petitioned congress to put carbon monoxide warning labels on bags of charcoal briquets.
She barely survived that night. Almost a completed murder suicide.
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Very telling who voted up that callous and ignorant remark.