Can Mounjaro Cause Pancreatitis?

Pancreatitis is a serious medical condition that causes severe abdominal pain, nausea, and vomiting. If not treated properly, pancreatitis can be life-threatening. That’s why reports of people developing pancreatitis while taking Mounjaro are getting so much attention.

Mounjaro (tirzepatide) is an injectable medication that’s FDA approved to treat Type 2 diabetes. In clinical trials, Mounjaro was shown to cause gut-related side effects like nausea and vomiting. But the relationship between Mounjaro and pancreatitis is less clear. 

Here’s what the science says about the link between Mounjaro and pancreatitis.

Does Mounjaro cause pancreatitis?

There have been reports of people developing pancreatitis while taking Mounjaro. But right now, there’s no clear evidence that Mounjaro directly causes pancreatitis. The link is still being studied.

In clinical trials and real-world studies, about 0.4% of people taking Mounjaro developed pancreatitis, making it a very rare side effect.

To figure out if a medication is causing a rare side effect, it must be studied in a big group of people. This can help show whether a rare side effect was just a coincidence or truly related to the medication. Here’s what the evidence shows so far:

• A review of 17 studies compared the rates of pancreatitis in people taking Mounjaro to people taking insulin, other  GLP-1s, or placebo (no medication) for diabetes management. People taking Mounjaro were just as likely to develop pancreatitis as people taking placebo (no medication). This was true even for people taking higher Mounjaro doses. 

• A review of nine studies found that people with Type 2 diabetes who took Mounjaro, GLP-1 medications, insulin, or placebo had similar rates of pancreatitis. 

• A study looked at nearly 50,000 people with Type 2 diabetes and compared the rates of pancreatitis in those who took GLP-1 medications (including Mounjaro) to those who didn’t take GLP-1 medications. This study found that people taking GLP-1s were about three times less likely to develop severe pancreatitis.

• A review of 20,000 side effect reports from people taking Mounjaro found that people taking the medication were slightly less likely to experience pancreatitis than people taking other forms of injectable medications to treat diabetes.

These studies suggest that people taking Mounjaro don’t develop pancreatitis more often than people receiving other diabetes treatments.

Why else might people taking Mounjaro develop pancreatitis?

In all the studies mentioned above, some people taking Mounjaro developed pancreatitis. So did people who took other diabetes medications. But so did people taking placebo (no medication). 

That’s because pancreatitis can be triggered by many different things, not just medications. 

People with Type 2 diabetes are three times more likely to develop pancreatitis than people without diabetes. That means people taking Mounjaro are already at high risk for developing pancreatitis. And the cause of their pancreatitis could have been due to diabetes and not Mounjaro.  

Pancreatitis can also be triggered by:

• Gallstones: Up to 7% of people with gallstones develop pancreatitis.

• Alcohol use: About 10% of people with heavy alcohol use develop pancreatitis.

• High triglycerides (a type of fat from your diet): About 10% of people with very high triglycerides develop pancreatitis. 

Many people with Type 2 diabetes also have high triglycerides and gallstones. The studies above didn’t always take these medical conditions into account. So it’s possible that people in these studies developed pancreatitis due to one or more of these medical conditions and not Mounjaro. 

Who is most at risk for medication-related pancreatitis?

Some things that can increase your risk of pancreatitis include:

• A history of gallstones or other gallbladder problems

• Having relatives who had pancreatitis

• Taking other medications linked to causing pancreatitis, such as azathioprine, thiazides, furosemide, estrogens, and certain antibiotics

• Alcohol use disorder

• High triglyceride levels

• Having a body mass index (BMI) of over 30

Talk with your healthcare team about these risk factors before starting Mounjaro. Your team can take these factors into consideration before deciding whether Mounjaro is right for you.

Should you take Mounjaro if you’ve had pancreatitis?

People with a history of pancreatitis weren’t included in Mounjaro clinical trials. Researchers don’t know if people have a higher risk for developing pancreatitis while taking Mounjaro if they’ve had pancreatitis in the past. 

You may be able to take Mounjaro if you had pancreatitis in the past. Talk with your healthcare team about the risks and benefits of Mounjaro. Together, you can determine if taking Mounjaro is the right choice for you.

What should you do if you’re experiencing symptoms of pancreatitis?

If you develop symptoms of pancreatitis while taking Mounjaro, get medical care right away.

Pancreatitis symptoms include:

• Pain in your upper abdomen that may radiate (travel) to your back 

• Nausea and vomiting

• Fever

• Not being able to keep down food or drink

• Fast heart rate

Most of the time, people who have pancreatitis need to be treated in the hospital. If pancreatitis is severe, you may need to be treated in an intensive care unit (ICU). 

Right now, it’s not clear whether it’s safe to restart Mounjaro if you’ve developed pancreatitis while taking the medication. You may need to switch to a different type of diabetes medication after you recover.

How to reduce the risk of pancreatitis when taking Mounjaro?

There are steps you can take to lower your risk of developing pancreatitis while taking Mounjaro, like:

• Limiting or avoiding alcohol intake

• Limiting fatty and fried foods 

• Eating more whole grains, fruits, and vegetables

• Getting treatment for high triglycerides

• Getting treatment for gallstones

Gallstones, high triglycerides, or heavy alcohol use are much more likely to trigger pancreatitis than Mounjaro. Getting treatment for these medical conditions can help you avoid pancreatitis, regardless of what type of diabetes treatment you take.

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Written by:

Tracy Norfleet, MD, FACP

Dr. Tracy Norfleet is a board-certified Internal Medicine physician, health expert, and physician leader with over 20 years of experience practicing adult medicine. Dual-certified by the American Board of Obesity Medicine and the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine, Dr. Tracy possesses a wealth of knowledge and expertise in both traditional medical practices and innovative lifestyle interventions for chronic disease management and reversal.

Edited by:

Patricia Pinto-Garcia, MD, MPH

Patricia Pinto-Garcia, MD, MPH, is a medical editor at GoodRx. She is a licensed, board-certified pediatrician with more than a decade of experience in academic medicine.

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