GLP-1 Receptor Agonist Exposures Reported to Poison Center Up After FDA Approval for Weight Loss

WEDNESDAY, July 1, 2026 (HealthDay News) — Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1 RA) exposures reported to U.S. poison centers increased following 2021 U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for weight loss, according to a study published in the April issue of the Journal of Medical Toxicology.

Jordan Miller, from UT San Antonio in Texas, and colleagues analyzed human GLP-1 RA exposures reported to the National Poison Data System from 2012 to 2023, before and after the U.S. FDA approval for weight loss (July 1, 2021).

Data were included for 10,033 exposures: 3,113 preapproval and 6,920 postapproval. Postapproval, semaglutide dominated (64.2 percent). The researchers found that there was a shift toward younger and more females in the exposed population. Most of the reported cases were unintentional therapeutic errors, with mild gastrointestinal symptoms. There was an increase in the proportion managed in or referred to a health care facility from 23.0 to 33.5 percent (risk ratio, 1.46). A significant inflection was demonstrated in call volume, with an additional 9.9 percent increase in semaglutide exposures per quarter after approval.

“When the GLP-1[RA] drugs are being sold to diabetic patients, that”s a completely different story versus when the drug is used for weight management,” coauthor David Han, Ph.D., also from UT San Antonio, said in a statement. “So, we had to quantify this evidence to show that it stemmed from the FDA approval and how to contain the risk. We need to better educate the public because how this drug behaves in our body and its long-term safety are not yet fully understood.”

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