European authorities are currently investigating potential complications that may arise during anesthesia from the use of popular weight-loss and diabetes drugs, including Wegovy, which is manufactured by Novo Nordisk A/S. The European Medicines Agency's safety committee, PRAC, is dedicating a meeting this week to discuss this safety concern. This inquiry stems from guidance issued by the American Society of Anesthesiologists in June, which advised patients to skip a dose of these drugs before undergoing surgery.
The reason for this recommendation is that these medications cause a delay in stomach emptying. Consequently, even if patients fast prior to surgery, there is a risk that some food may remain in the stomach. This increases the possibility of stomach contents being regurgitated into the esophagus and subsequently spilling into the lungs. According to the US anesthesiologists' association, this aspiration of stomach contents can have catastrophic consequences, as it can lead to the development of pneumonia.
There is a concern that patients with diabetes may be particularly vulnerable to delayed stomach emptying, also known as gastroparesis. Further studies are necessary to determine whether these medications play a role in these side effects, particularly in patients with obesity, according to Dr. David Johnson, the chief of gastroenterology at Eastern Virginia Medical School.
The scope of PRAC's investigation extends to a broad group of drugs similar to Wegovy, including Novo's blockbuster diabetes medicine Ozempic and Eli Lilly & Co.'s diabetes drug Mounjaro. The available evidence on the use of such drugs around the time of surgery is limited, and safety data from both post-marketing surveillance and clinical trials has not indicated that semaglutide, the active ingredient in these medications, causes lung aspiration. Novo Nordisk asserts that the decision to use these drugs should be made at the discretion of the treating physician.
The European Medicines Agency declined to comment further on the matter. Eli Lilly has not yet responded to requests for comment in regards to the investigation.