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# 265 Suicidal Reports on GLP-1 Drugs: Reuters
- URL: https://www.fdaweb.com/265-suicidal-reports-on-glp-1-drugs-reuters/
- Published: 2023-09-28T12:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-09-14T18:59:02.000Z
- Author: David McFarland
- Tags: Drugs, #legacy-id-D5155443

A Reuters analysis of FDA adverse event data indicates that since 2010 the agency has received 265 reports of suicidal thoughts or behavior in patients taking GLP-1 receptor agonist drugs such as Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic (semaglutide) and Wegovy (semaglutide) and Lilly’s Mounjaro (tirzepatide). The news service [says](https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/wegovy-other-weight-loss-drugs-scrutinized-over-reports-suicidal-thoughts-2023-09-28/?ref=fdaweb.com) 36 of the reports describe a death by suicide or suspected suicide.

In a statement to Reuters, the agency said it is evaluating the reports and will determine what action to take, if any, following its thorough review. The story notes the European Medicines Agency announced in July an investigation into the issue that is expected to be finished in November.

Reuters says its analysis is the first “exhaustive examination” of FDA adverse event reports involving incidents of suicidal thinking linked to GLP-1 drugs. It says it also used public record requests to obtain 113 detailed narratives for individual incidents among the 265 reports in the agency database and is reporting on the experiences of five specific individuals that have not been previously disclosed.

In a statement, Novo Nordisk said it takes “all reports about adverse events from use of our medicines very seriously” and said it would continue to monitor clinical data and collaborate with authorities. The company said it remains confident in the benefit/risk profile of Ozempic and Wegovy and that its safety monitoring has found no “causal association” between the drugs and thoughts of self-harm.

Lilly told Reuters it was working closely with regulators on potential Mourjano safety issues and would continue to review data on “suicidal ideation, thoughts of self-harm, and depression.”

FDA indicated that clinical trials of the three drugs did not show suicide risk. But, Reuters says, doctors are on the lookout for previously undocumented dangers as hundreds of thousands of new patients start taking the drugs to lose weight. “Heightened suicide risks have caused regulators to issue strong warnings on obesity drugs in the past,” it says.

The news service says it is difficult to gauge whether or how quickly such adverse event reports would lead to FDA action. It notes that its story published earlier this year found it took the agency 12 years after launching a safety review of the allergy and asthma drug Singulair (montelukast from Merck and generics) before it required a Boxed Warning about serious neuropsychiatric side effects, including suicidal thinking. “By that time,” Reuters says, “FDA had received more than 80 reports of people killing themselves while taking the medicine, including 31 children and teenagers.”