A 58-year-old nurse from Scotland has died after taking two doses of weight-loss medicine tirzepatide.
Susan McGowan, 58, died from multiple organ failure, septic shock and pancreatitis, but her death certificate lists the Eli Lilly drug as a contributing factor, according to the BBC.
Her death is thought to be the first in the U.K. officially linked to the drug, which is also known as Mounjaro or Zepbound, depending on its use.
McGowen took two low doses of the drug over around two weeks, according to the BBC. She had bought a prescription for the drug online.
A few days after her second dose, McGowen experienced sickness and severe stomach pain. She was treated by her colleagues at University Hospital Monklands in Airdrie, Lanarkshire, where she had worked for 30 years.
Within days, McGowen developed serious kidney issues and went into a coma. Her other organs later failed.
What Is Tirzepetide?
Tirzepetide is one of several new “blockbuster” weight loss drugs that lower appetite by making people feel full.
It’s called a “GLP-1 receptor agonist” and works in a similar way to Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic (also known as Wegovy). Ozempic, a semaglutide, is suspected of playing a role in nearly two dozen deaths in the U.K. since 2019. But these represent a tiny fraction of those using the drugs.
Like semaglutide, tirzepetide is effective for weight loss and the treatment of type two diabetes.
But it can cause side effects including vomiting, diarrhea and nausea. In rare cases it may cause symptoms including severe allergic reactions, kidney disease, serious stomach issues and thyroid tumors.
Severe side effects are relatively rare, and regulators say the benefits of the drug outweigh the known risks.
The drug was approved as a weight loss aid last year by the U.K.’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Authority, which logs adverse events via the “Yellow Card” reporting scheme.
Patient safety
A second death is suspected of being linked to tirzepetide, according to Yellow Card data from January and May 2024. But a connection has not been proven.
MHRA chief safety office Dr Alison Cave told the BBC: “Patient safety is our top priority and no medicine would be approved unless it met our expected standards of safety, quality and effectiveness. We have robust, safety monitoring and surveillance systems in place for all healthcare products.
“On the basis of the current evidence the benefits of GLP-1 RAs outweigh the potential risks when used for the licensed indications.”
The organization offered its “sincere sympathies” to McGowan’s family, she added.
“Patient safety is Lilly’s top priority,” an Eli Lilly U.K. spokesperson told me in an email. “Mounjaro was approved based on extensive assessment of the benefits and risks of the medicine, and we provide information about the benefits and risks of all our medicines to regulators around the world to ensure the latest information is available for prescribers.”
The company is “commutted to continually monitoring, evaluating and reporting safety information for all Lilly medicines,” the spokesperson added.
