Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency) had a continuous increase in notifications of suspected cases of pancreatitis associated with the use of weight-loss pens in Brazil from 2020 to 2025. In total, there were six suspected deaths. The data was revealed by G1 and confirmed by Sheet.
Reports of cases and deaths involve drugs from the GLP-1 agonist class, used to treat diabetes and obesity, such as semaglutide, liraglutide, lixisenatide, tirzepatide and dulaglutide.
The regulatory agency explained, in a note, that it received at least 145 reports of suspected pancreatitis associated with the use of weight-loss pens between January 1, 2020 and December 7, 2025, according to data from the VigiMed system, aimed at monitoring adverse events related to medicines in the country.
According to system data, in 2020 only one case was registered, a number that rose to 21 in 2021 and 23 in 2022. In 2023, notifications reached 27 and advanced to 28 in 2024. In 2025, there was a new jump, with 45 records, the highest volume in the historical series.
Of the total number of records, six notifications indicate a suspicious outcome of death, as reported by the notifiers themselves. Anvisa, however, did not inform which years, between 2020 and 2025, these deaths would have occurred.
According to the agency, when notifications from clinical research are also included, the total number of records of suspected pancreatitis rises to 225 cases in the period analyzed. However, Anvisa did not inform the date of when these surveys will take place.
According to the agency, the possibility of pancreatitis is already included in the leaflets of these medications in Brazil, as a known adverse event.
Elly Lilly said in a statement that the leaflet for Mounjaro (tirzepatide) warns that inflammation of the pancreas (acute pancreatitis) is an uncommon adverse reaction and advises patients to speak to their doctor for more information about the symptoms of pancreatitis and to inform their doctor and discontinue treatment if pancreatitis is suspected during treatment with Mounjaro.
“We take reports of patient safety seriously and actively monitor, evaluate and report safety information for all of our medicines,” he said in a statement.
Anvisa reinforces that reporting an adverse event does not mean proof of a direct relationship with the medication, but is considered a tool for monitoring the safety of products in use by the population.
The regulatory agency says there may be more cases. “It is important to remember that not all information is reported by the notifier, such as the commercial name. Therefore, when they are coded only by the name of the active ingredient, they do not appear on the panel when the search is carried out by commercial name”, he explained to the agency.
Cases of suspected pancreatitis related to weight loss pens also occur in other countries. As shown by Sheetin January the United Kingdom stated that some patients died as a result of severe inflammation of the pancreas associated with medications for obesity and diabetes.
The UK Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) said doctors and patients should be aware that some episodes were particularly severe, as it reinforced warnings about the use of these medicines.
Experts interviewed in the report on the UK case say that the risk of developing pancreatitis in people who use these medications is low.
According to Célio Geraldo de Oliveira Gomes, gastroenterologist at Rede Mater Dei de Saúde and Instituto Alfa de Gastroenteologia at Hospital das Clínicas at UFMG (Federal University of Minas Gerais), the hypothesis for this association is related to “an abnormal stimulation of pancreas cells, altering the secretion and composition of digestive enzymes”.
The effects of this class of medications on the pancreas have been a concern since the beginning of clinical studies 20 years ago, says Bruno Halpern, vice president of Abeso (Brazilian Association for the Study of Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome) and director of the Obesity Department at SBEM (Brazilian Society of Endocrinology and Metabology).
date:2026-02-08 00:35:00