Overview
- The MHRA updated product information for GLP-1 drugs to note a small risk of severe acute pancreatitis and urged patients to seek urgent care for persistent abdominal pain and report cases via the Yellow Card scheme.
- The agency has logged more than 1,000 Yellow Card reports of pancreatitis linked to these medicines with rare serious or fatal outcomes, with most reports recorded in 2025.
- Use of GLP-1 therapies has expanded rapidly, with UCL estimating 1.6 million users across Great Britain in early 2024–25 and industry putting current use nearer two million.
- The MHRA is enrolling GLP-1 patients into the Yellow Card Biobank with Genomics England to investigate genetic factors that may raise susceptibility to pancreatic inflammation.
- Clinicians report more gallstones and gallbladder removals among GLP-1 users, with 80,196 cholecystectomies in England in 2024–25 (up 15%), and they are calling for research to separate drug effects from rapid weight loss.