Monitoring Desk
PARIS: Ozempic, a diabetes drug, has become a social media sensation for its weight loss properties, but its quicker popularity has resulted in global shortages, and doctors are warning about potential side effects.
On TikTok, where many users frequently update followers about their weight loss, videos with the hashtag #Ozempic have nearly 600 million views.
Ozempic, a TikToker from France, said in a typical post with nearly 50,000 views in December that losing 40 kilograms in less than 3 months is possible. He added that it was a miracle.
Novo Nordisk’s injectable drug was initially developed and approved in a number of countries to treat type 2 diabetes. The active ingredient in the drug, semaglutide, binds to the receptors of a hormone that regulates blood sugar, stimulating insulin’s release when glucose levels are high. It reduces appetite by slowing the rate at which food leaves the stomach.
Peer-reviewed research published in early 2021 discovered that nearly three-quarters of people who used the drug managed to lose more than 10% of their body weight. Novo Nordisk has since developed a semaglutide drug with a higher dosage called Wegovy. Semaglutide drug was approved for use in the United States (US) in 2021 and in Europe and the United Kingdom last year. Wegovy is not yet available in the United Kingdom, France, or several other countries, but Ozempic is available with a standard prescription.
This has resulted in an increase in people without diabetes receiving Ozempic prescriptions, as well as “falsified prescriptions,” according to Jean-Luc Faillie, a pharmacology specialist at France’s Montpellier University. According to Douglas Twenefour, head of care at Diabetes UK, Ozempic “is not a medication for people who do not have diabetes or are at risk of type 2 diabetes,” according to the charity’s website. The ANSM, France’s medicines regulator, has advised doctors to only prescribe Ozempic for diabetes.
According to the ANSM, there has not been a particularly “rapid increase in consumption in recent months,” but there have been “supply tensions” worldwide. According to Novo Nordisk, “stronger than anticipated demand” for Ozempic has resulted in “intermittent availability and period stock-outs” worldwide. To bridge the gap, the company’s global manufacturing facilities “are now operating 24 hours a day, seven days a week,” it added.
Doctors are concern for people with diabetes
Doctors are concerned that people with diabetes may be unable to obtain semaglutide due to increased demand from people looking to lose weight. According to Karine Clement, an obesity specialist at France’s INSERM medical research institute, when Wegovy becomes available, people should closely follow their prescription. “It’s not a magic pill,” she explained. “As with all cases of obesity, it must be accompanied by a comprehensive treatment plan.”
Doctors have also voiced concerns about semaglutide’s side effects, which Faillie claims have gone unnoticed. He claims that “neither patients nor prescribers are motivated to report” side effects. Nausea is the most common side effect of this drug. However, according to Faillie, “there are also more serious and rarer risks such as acute pancreatitis (which can occur at lower doses), biliary disorders, and rare cases of constipation which can lead to bowel blockage.”
He also mentioned an “increased risk of thyroid cancer” after years of treatment. While the risks were reasonable in comparison to the benefits for people with diabetes, “there are still uncertainties in the long term, particularly in obese patients,” he said. “The therapeutic benefit is zero if it is used to lose a few kilograms,” Faillie added. “That would be purely cosmetic, while the risks would remain.”
