Recently popular drugs, used to treat type 2 diabetes and obesity, can reduce the effectiveness of birth control pills – warned the British regulatory agency for medicines and medical products.
The British Yellow Card program allows citizens to report side effects of medicines. The British regulatory agency for medicines and medical products (Medicines and Healthcare Products regulators agency, MHRA) warned on its website citizens of Great Britain with possible ineffectiveness of contraceptives. Issued such information after receiving 40 pregnancy reports while using drugs such as Ozmpic, Wegova and Mounjaro.
Ozmpic and Wegova, which contain semaglutide, imitate the effect of a hormone called GLP-1, thanks to which they cause an increase in insulin production, slow down the rate of digestion of food in the stomach and reduce appetite.
The active substance is Mounjaro, which also works on the second hormone involved in the appetite and blood sugar levels – GIP.
As Mhra pointed out, Mounjaro can reduce the effectiveness of oral contraceptives, such as pills, in overweight people, and women taking the drug should use barrier contraceptives such as condoms. According to Guardian, 26 reports regarding pregnancy for Mounjaro were reported.
Eight reports concerned pregnancy in people taking semaglutide, while nine – a lyreglutide, which is in a different drug for slimming, Saxenda. Although women do not have to say if pregnancy was planned – two reports showed that it was unintentional.
As indicated by the supervisor, these medications must not be taken during pregnancy, while attempts to get pregnant or breastfeeding, because “there is not enough safety data to determine whether taking the medicine can harm a child.”
According to experts, in some cases women should continue using contraception for a period of up to two months from stopping taking the medicine to get pregnant.
“GLP-1 drugs imitate natural hormones produced in the intestines that cause satiety. Thanks to this, they are an effective way of treating women to lose weight. Obesity reduces female fertility. So women with obesity, taking GLP-1 drugs, have a better chance of getting pregnant than before losing weight. In addition, we think that the absorption of oral contraceptive tablets Reduced in the case of GLP -1 drugs that slow down the gastric emptying, although more tests are needed to confirm this, “said Dr. Channa Jayasena, a consultant in the field of reproductive and andrology endocrinology at Imperial College Healthcare Nhs Trust, cited by Guardian.
“The guidelines developed by MHRA are reasonable because they emphasize that women can accidentally get pregnant while taking GLP-1. GLP -1 ” – said the researcher, cited by the newspaper.
“These drugs are approved for the treatment of specific diseases and should not be used as aesthetic or cosmetic procedures. They are not a quick way to lose weight and have not been assessed as safe when used in this way,” Dr. Alison Cave, the security director of this agency, commented on the official MHRA website.
According to experts, a birth control pill may not be absorbed properly due to the typical side effects of new slimming drugs, such as vomiting and diarrhea, and also because they slow down the gastric emptying.
MHRA claims that women should use contraception while taking GLP -1 and for a certain period after they before they start to get pregnant – two months in the case of Wegova and Ozmpiic and one month in the case of Moundjaro. He also recommends that people using Mounjaro and taking oral contraceptives also use a condom for four weeks after starting to take the medicine or switch to another method, such as spiral or implant.
MHRA advises patients to talk to their doctor about the risk and benefits of taking slimming drugs and learn about their potential side effects. These drugs should not be bought from unregulated sellers, such as beauty salons or through social media, or taken without prior consultation with a health care worker. It not only exposes people who want to lose weight to serious health risk, but also is unlawful. The only way to guarantee receiving the original GLP-1 is to buy it in a legal pharmacy.
The guidelines also reminds patients of symptoms that should be noted in the case of acute pancreatitis, which, although rare, can be serious. The main symptom is severe stomach pain, which radiates to the back and does not give way. Each person with this symptom should immediately ask for medical help. (PAP)
Paweł Wernicki
PMW/ ZAN/
