Welcome to Impact Factor, your weekly dose of commentary on a new medical study. I’m Dr F. Perry Wilson of the Yale School of Medicine.

In July of 2023, the European Medicines Agency released a statement that threatened to put the brakes on what had been the runaway success of the new weight loss drugs, GLP-1 receptor agonists like semaglutide (Ozempic) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro).

The agency announced that it was conducting a formal review into reports that the use of these drugs could increase the risk for suicide and suicidal thoughts.