Aussie bloke dies after taking weight-loss wonder drug Saxenda

Elyse Ramsay will never forgot the moment her mother called her at midnight to deliver the terrible news about her father Tim.

A farmer-turned-long-distance-truck-driver from South Australia, he was particularly proud of his daughter, his only child, for becoming a solicitor, after her humble beginnings on the family's farm on the state's Yorke Peninsula.

As her mum tried to explain what had happened, Elyse was numb with shock but the facts were clear: her 58-year-old dad had collapsed suddenly in the bathroom that evening and paramedics couldn't revive him.

The coroner put the official cause of death as 'undetermined', but both Elyse and her mother Rita, a 60-year-old retiree, are convinced Saxenda, the 'miracle' weight-loss drug Tim had been taking for just 19 days, contributed to his death.

Just hours before he collapsed on November 27, 2022, Tim had been discharged from hospital complaining of severe stomach pains.

Stomach pains are a well-known side effect of Saxenda - the sister drug of the wildly popular Ozempic, an injection used to treat type 2 diabetes which has gained popularity for its 'off-label' weight loss effect.

Elyse, a 29-year-old solicitor, claims her dad was recommended the medication by a doctor when he expressed his wish to shed a few kilos.

Looking back, the reason he wanted to lose weight is agonisingly bittersweet. 

His weight had crept up to 130kg (286lbs or 20.5st) from his years earning a living for his family as a truck driver on Australia's highways, where healthy, good-quality food is scarce.

Tim thought surprising his daughter with a healthier version of himself would be the perfect holiday present.

'He was a long-distance truck driver for many, many years and with the terrible food options available on the road and how exhausted he was when he was home, he was finding it so hard to lose weight,' Elyse tells me.

'He also wanted his weight loss to be a surprise for me at Christmas time. 

'So, he saw his GP who prescribed him Saxenda. He was injecting it as directed for 19 days before he died.'

Tim had heard of Ozempic from his sister, 68, who was trialling the drug alongside her 47-year-old daughter.

Both women stopped using the injection within a few weeks due to its negative side effects.

It didn't take long for Tim to feel unwell on it, too. 

Nausea was the first sign something was wrong. While it is a common side effect when first taking Saxenda, it often eases over time as the patient's body adjusts to the medication. However, Elyse said her father was 'sick and queasy the entire time' he used the drug. 

In fact, his stomach problems significantly worsened in the 24 hours before his death with the hardworking father forced to call his daughter in the dead of night for help.

Tim was in the middle of a shift at a truck depot in Burton, north Adelaide, when he began experiencing intense pain in his stomach.

He tried to ignore the agony for as long as he could but at 2am phoned Elyse, who lived in nearby Findon, to pick him up.

'Mum was at home on Hindmarsh Island [an almost two-hour drive from Burton], so it was quicker for me to get my pajamas on and race down to get him,' Elyse explains.

'Plus, I think he didn't want to worry her.'

Although her dad tried to play off the severity of the situation, Elyse was deeply disturbed by his uncharacteristic plea for help.

'He was in a lot of pain with his stomach but was trying to chat and laugh with me like usual - trying not to worry me too, I think,' she says.

'I just focused on getting him to the Royal Adelaide Hospital as quickly as I could.'

Elyse only began letting her adrenaline subside once her mother arrived at the hospital and reassured her everything would be okay.

The couple was so confident Tim would recover that they sent their anxious daughter home to get some rest. 

'They discharged him around midday, after doing tests,' Elyse says.

'On their way home from the hospital, my parents stopped in to see me. 

'He wasn't 100 per cent but in the typical Aussie bloke way insisted he was okay and that he was just burnt out from work. He and mum went home.'

After a tense night and long day, Tim and Rita both headed straight to bed as soon as they arrived back at their Hindmarsh Island home.

'When dad went to bed, he was still in pain and exhausted. Mum went to bed a little while later but dad woke as she came in and got up to go to the bathroom,' Elyse explains.

'She patted him on the belly as he went past and said, "Love you".'

Those would be the last words Rita said to her soulmate.

'Mum dozed off for about five minutes before she woke and thought dad was in the shower because she could hear water running in their ensuite,' Elyse explains.

'She got out of bed and called his name and asked, "Are you right?" but he didn't answer. 

'She then noticed his grey hair poking out from under the bottom of the ensuite door, meaning he must have been on the floor and up against it.

'She tried so hard but couldn't open the door. After calling Triple 0, her neighbour managed to smash the ensuite window and jump in to start CPR. 

'SA Ambulance tried to revive him but couldn't bring him back... At midnight that night, mum called me and told me [what happened].' 

The cause of Tim's death was initially ruled as 'undetermined', but the South Australian Coroner agreed in July 2024 to investigate its possible link to Saxenda after protests from his loved ones.

'The Coroner allocated it to Counsel Assisting to investigate whether or not Saxenda may have contributed to his death - we strongly believe it did,' Elyse tells me. 

A spokesperson for the Coroner's Court confirmed the investigation was ongoing. 

While her father was prescribed Saxenda through proper channels after speaking to a doctor, Elyse was 'horrified' to learn after his death that thousands of people are accessing weight-loss drugs online without being properly warned of side effects.

Some Australians are even seeking out weight loss injections from black market overseas vendors despite the massive risks of taking unregulated drugs.

Today, Elyse's message for anyone considering weight-loss medication is clear: if you aren't diabetic, it's not worth the risk.

'I struggle with my weight and I totally understand the temptation to take the easy option when it's offered up so quickly and accessibly,' she says.

'But this medication was not designed for weight loss. Using it off-brand to satisfy our obsession with being thin is simply not worth the risk to those who require it to treat their diabetes - and it is certainly not worth the risk to our own lives.'

What's the difference between Saxenda and Ozempic?

Ozempic and Saxenda have different active ingredients but both work to mimic a hormone, GLP-1, which controls appetite and blood sugar.

Ozempic, which uses semaglutide, is primarily used to treat type 2 diabetes but is often prescribed for its 'off label' weight loss effect.

Saxenda, which uses liraglutide, is primarily prescribed for weight loss.

Ozempic requires weekly injections while Saxenda is injected daily.

Both are owned by Novo Nordisk, founded in Denmark.

Professor Lauren Ball, a dietician and researcher for the University of Queensland, says that while extreme reactions to weight loss injections are rare, adverse side effects are extremely common.

'There are a high percentage of people who have some side effects,' she says.

'So, for example, there was a trial where nearly three quarters of people had some sort of gastro symptoms, like nausea and diarrhoea. 

'But they're considered fairly mild, by no means life-threatening.'

Like Elyse, Professor Ball was disturbed to learn how easily injections like Saxenda or Ozempic can be accessed from online clinics or illegal foreign suppliers.

A quick search of the word 'Ozempic' on social media will show dozens of people and pages offering to ship weight loss medication to Australia for a cheap price.

While the risk of suffering severe side effects from pharmacy-dispensed weight loss injections may be low, Professor Ball warns patients run a much higher risk when buying from these sites.

When Daily Mail Australia asked the Therapeutic Goods Administration (TGA) if it would consider withdrawing its approval for Saxenda if Tim was found to have died from its side effects, the regulatory agency said: 'All medicines, including Saxenda, carry potential risks'.

'The TGA applies scientific and clinical expertise to its decision-making to ensure that the benefits of a product... outweigh any risks,' a spokesperson added.

'The TGA regularly reviews and analyses reports of side effects (also known as adverse events) submitted by health professionals, consumers and pharmaceutical companies to detect patterns of reporting that indicate possible new safety information requiring investigation. 

'Where the evidence indicates that a medicine is likely to cause a particular medical condition, the TGA takes action. 

'In the most serious circumstances, this might result in the medicine being withdrawn or changes to how it is used. 

'More commonly, it involves adding warnings in the Product Information and Consumer Medicine Information documents (which contain information about the safe and effective use of the medicine) and publishing safety information for health professionals and consumers to manage and mitigate the identified risks.'

With seemingly little to no intervention from the Australian government, Elyse only has the memories of her dad to comfort her.

'I'm an only child but I hit the jackpot with my parents,' she tells me.

'They were soulmates and loved me fiercely. We did everything together. Losing my father has been devastating.'