New warning for anyone thinking of stopping Mounjaro or Wegovy

New warning for anyone thinking of stopping Mounjaro or Wegovy The health expert's advice comes as a study that came out this week uncovered new findings A pharmacist has issued a warning to anyone considering stopping weight-loss jabs such as Mounjaro and Wegovy. The advice comes after a study of more than 330,000 patients found that the heart-protective effect of the drugs can begin to fade within months of the final dose. The research, published in BMJ Medicine and highlighted by ScienceDaily this week, found people who stayed on the medicines had an 18 per cent lower risk of heart attack, stroke or death. However, those who came off them for two years lost almost all of that protection, ending up with a risk up to 22 per cent higher than people who kept going. Even a six-month gap before restarting left the risk four to eight per cent higher. A summary of the study reads: "A large study suggests the cardiovascular benefits of GLP-1 drugs such as Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, and Zepbound can disappear surprisingly quickly when treatment stops. After two years off the medications, patients had a 22% higher risk of heart attack, stroke, and death compared with those who stayed on them." Palvinder Deol, superintendent pharmacist at Happy Pharmacy, a UK online pharmacy, said the findings are good news for people on the jabs, with one important caveat. He said: "This study is really a reminder of how much these medicines do beyond the number on the scales. "Blood pressure, cholesterol and inflammation all improve, and that is what protects the heart. The catch is that those benefits fade when treatment stops, and they fade long before the weight comes back, so you cannot see it happening. "Nobody has to stay on a jab forever. Plenty of our patients reach their target and come off it well. The difference is that they do it as a plan with their pharmacist or prescriber, rather than letting the pen run out and hoping for the best." What did the study find? Researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis followed 333,687 US military veterans with type 2 diabetes for three years. Of those, 132,551 had been prescribed GLP-1 drugs, including semaglutide (Wegovy and Ozempic) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro), while 201,136 were on sulfonylureas, an older type of diabetes tablet. People who stayed on the GLP-1 medicine for the full three years had an 18 per cent lower risk of a major cardiovascular event than the comparison group. This worked out to about four fewer heart attacks, strokes, or deaths per 100 people. Those who stopped for a year without restarting had a 14 per cent higher risk than people who kept going, rising to 22 per cent after two years off. Anyone who stopped before 18 months showed no significant cardiac benefit over the older tablets by the end of the study. Restarting helped, restoring some of the protection, but not all of it. Senior author Dr Ziyad Al-Aly, a clinical epidemiologist at WashU Medicine, said: "There is enormous exuberance about starting GLP-1 drugs, but not nearly enough attention to what happens when people stop. Many quit after a few months because of cost, side effects or shortages. "When they stop, it's not just weight that comes back; they experience a resurgence in inflammation, blood pressure, and cholesterol. Weight regain is visible; the metabolic reversal is not." If you have any questions or concerns, speak to your GP. Never stop taking prescribed medication without speaking to a doctor first. What does it mean for users in the UK? Around 1.6 million adults in the UK used weight-loss drugs in the past year, according to research from University College London. A study from University College London (UCL), published in BMC Medicine, found that usage was twice as high among women as among men and was most common among middle-aged adults. The new study out this week looked at people with type 2 diabetes, so the exact figures may not apply to someone using the jabs for their weight alone. But the medicines are the same, and Mr Deol said the lesson is the same too: coming off treatment is a stage of it, not the end of it. He said: "The medicine takes four to five weeks to clear, so nothing changes overnight. Appetite usually starts creeping back around week three or four, and by then our patients already have their eating, activity and follow-up plan in place. "If cost is the reason someone is thinking of stopping, tell your pharmacist. There are usually better options than stretching out doses, and this research shows why even a few months off matters. And if you have type 2 diabetes or take other medicines for blood sugar, never stop without medical advice, because your levels can rise quickly." Mr Deol said the message for the many people on the jabs is a reassuring one: "You are doing more for your heart than you can see. Keep it that way by making the decision to stop a planned one, with the same care that went into starting."