MADISON, Wis. -- It's a drug in high demand, but doctors say people are often grabbing up Ozempic for the wrong reason.
We've already kind of been dealing with a shortage,” Dr. Yoshito Kosai of SSM Health.
So how did it get to that?
In 2017, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration approved Ozempic, a semaglutide injection from company Novo Nordisk to lower A1C in type 2 diabetes patients.
“It helps improve glucose metabolism and increases the efficiency of the insulin that's produced in your body,” Kosai explained.
But what has caught the eye of celebrities and TikTok is its effect on weight.
“It does promote a healthier eating pattern, which does promote weight loss,” Kosai, a doctor of family and obesity medicine, said.
“It does seem to affect certain pathways in the brain, where it decreases hunger and cravings for energy-dense foods,” he said. “It has some metabolic effects as well as slowing down the intestines, which makes you feel full longer as well.”
According to Kosai, Wegovy is the exact same medication, just a different dosage specifically for weight loss. For both, doctors are supposed to prescribe it only when a patient is at risk for obesity-related health problems, including "for folks with a BMI greater than 30, or a BMI above 27 with already developing a weight related comorbid condition."
But Kosai said this past year, enough people have not been understanding that, making Ozempic slim pickings for those that need it.
“There was kind of a domino effect with that,” Kosai said.
“It became extremely challenging because the second most appropriate drug for that patient then became in short supply too,” he said.
As with all drugs, there are side effects, commonly nausea, diarrhea, constipation, headache and fatigue, but one side effect is a big reason why Kosai said it shouldn't be used willy-nilly to get skinny.
“If you stop the medication, you will almost definitely regain at least a majority of the weight loss that you've achieved with this medication," he cautioned.
Once stopped, Kosai said most people regain at least two-thirds of the weight they lost on the drug, and some others gained even more than when they started the meds.
“When the stimulation of those pathways goes away, their hunger returns quite rapidly and their food consumption does tend to revert back to their prior habits,” he said.
According to Kosai, without insurance Ozempic and Wegovy can cost upward of $1,300 or more. Ozempic, he said, is only covered under most insurance for clinical indications of Type 2 Diabetes.
“We know it needs to be used chronically and continued use of this medication. If there is a shortage, what happens to these patients that have been using it for weight loss?” Kosai said. “The evidence does kind of support that if you do run out, or you stop using the medication, the weight, it will come back.”
That's why doctors stress that treating chronic obesity is about forming a plan around habits and environment, including "lack of sleep and our emotional health and stress management.
“I think that, you know, obesity medicine, there's no quick easy fix," he said.
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