Ozempic and Wegovy are model names for the drug semaglutide. Many international locations have authorised Wegovy for weight reduction in people who find themselves overweight or chubby and Ozempic for individuals with sort 2 diabetes.

How do these medicine work?

Medicine comparable to semaglutide mimic the actions of a hormone referred to as glucagon-like peptide-1, or GLP-1. These so-called GLP-1 analogues have a number of results, together with slowing abdomen emptying, performing on the mind to scale back urge for food and boosting the discharge of insulin, which helps to manage blood sugar ranges.

For greater than a decade, GLP-1 analogues have been used to assist individuals with sort 2 diabetes management their blood sugar and a few customers skilled modest weight reduction. “These medicine increase a system that already exists inside the human physique, whose position it’s to suppress urge for food following meal ingestion,” says Simon Cork at Imperial School London.

Why are they making headlines now?

GLP-1 analogues have began to be prescribed for weight reduction in individuals with out sort 2 diabetes. They’ve additionally change into obtainable in formulations which are stronger and simpler to make use of.

Initially GLP-1 analogues have been authorised to be used at a decrease dose and wanted to be given by twice-daily injections. Within the newest formulations they’re once-weekly injections, with Wegovy’s full dose being 2.4 milligrams for weight reduction and Ozempic being used at a maximum dose of 2 milligrams for sort 2 diabetes.

How broadly obtainable are they?

In 2021, Wegovy was authorised for weight reduction in a number of international locations, including the US and Canada. Reward from some movie star customers introduced it widespread publicity.

Manufacturing problems meant its producer, Novo Nordisk, had bother assembly international demand, so some docs began prescribing Ozempic, which had been authorised for individuals with sort 2 diabetes in sure international locations a number of years earlier. This led to shortages for individuals who required it for diabetes management.

Within the UK, Wegovy was authorised in 2021, however solely got the nod from England’s medical guidelines body the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence in March 2023, when it stated the drug must be given by weight reduction clinics inside the nation’s nationwide well being service. Wegovy is predicted to change into obtainable within the UK this 12 months, whereas Ozempic has been obtainable for sort 2 diabetes since 2019.

In June 2023, the UK government announced the introduction of a two-year pilot that gives people with obesity access to new drugs, comparable to Wegovy, outdoors of a hospital setting.

How efficient are they?

Very. It’s a cliche however weight problems docs are speaking a few paradigm shift within the area of weight problems administration. Beforehand, a lack of about 5 per cent of physique weight can be thought-about a great end result for any weight reduction intervention outdoors of abdomen surgical procedure and is taken into account a benchmark in weight problems drug trials.

Wegovy results in a few 15 per cent reduction in body weight over a year, when mixed with train and consuming healthily.

In truth, some individuals appear to really feel that the GLP-1 analogues have induced them to change into too gaunt, as mirrored within the rise of the search phrases “Ozempic face” and “Ozempic butt”. “Ozempic doesn’t do something particular to the pores and skin,” says Alexander Miras at Ulster College, UK. It’s the weight reduction that causes these obvious unintended effects, with related outcomes typically additionally occurring after weight reduction surgical procedure, he says.

Do the medicine have any unintended effects?

Unwanted side effects might be delicate, comparable to nausea, constipation and diarrhoea, which are inclined to happen as individuals get used to the drug. Extra worrying unintended effects embody irritation of the pancreas, though that is comparatively uncommon.

How about hair loss?

Hair loss has been reported by some semaglutide customers. That is additionally generally seen after important weight reduction from different causes, comparable to abdomen surgical procedure, says Miras.

Hair loss following weight reduction surgical procedure is regarded as resulting from physiological stress on the physique inflicting an elevated variety of hair follicles to enter their “resting” section, which ends up in the hairs falling out a couple of months later. It stops when the load loss stabilises, nonetheless, the hair doesn’t all the time develop again, says Miras.

Do these medicine trigger suicidal ideas?

GLP-1 analogues – comparable to Ozempic and Wegovy – are being investigated by the European Medicines Company (EMA) after latest experiences that they might trigger ideas of suicide or self-harm. This was after Iceland’s well being regulator acquired three such experiences relating to semaglutide and one other drug referred to as liraglutide, which is an earlier GLP-1 analogue.

The EMA says it’s analysing about 150 reports of possible cases of self-injury and suicidal thoughts. This doesn’t imply the medicines induced these results, nonetheless, solely that folks reported these experiences after beginning to take them. “Extra work is required to find out if a causal hyperlink exists,” says Michael Schwartz on the College of Washington in Seattle.

A spokesperson at Novo Nordisk, the producer of liraglutide and the semaglutide medicine Ozempic and Wegovy, informed New Scientist: “GLP-1 receptor agonists have been used to deal with sort 2 diabetes for greater than 15 years and for remedy of weight problems for eight years. The security information collected from giant scientific trial programmes and put up advertising surveillance haven’t demonstrated a causal affiliation between semaglutide or liraglutide and suicidal and self-harming ideas.”

Want a listening ear? UK Samaritans: 116123; US 988 Suicide & Crisis Lifeline: 988; hotlines in other countries.

Do these medicine assist with addictions?

Maybe. There have been many anecdotal reports of individuals taking these medicines for diabetes or weight management who lose their urge to drink alcohol or see waning of different habits that may very well be described as “behavioural addictions”, comparable to compulsive purchasing.

That is supported by research in animals that discovered the GLP-1 analogues decrease consumption of alcohol and addictive medicine. A small trial in individuals has hinted at the same impact from a GLP-1 analogue referred to as exenatide, which reduced heavy drinking, but only in people who were obese.

The reason may very well be linked with the way in which the medicine act on the mind to scale back meals cravings, however the precise mechanism is unclear. We’re solely initially of understanding how these therapies might assist individuals with alcohol and drug additions, says Daniel Drucker at Sinai Well being in Toronto, Canada. “The scientific trial information just isn’t but in to substantiate the anecdotes.”

What occurs to a consumer’s weight long-term?

In an aforementioned examine, taking semaglutide as soon as every week led to individuals dropping about 15 per cent of their physique weight, in contrast with 2 per cent for these taking a placebo. Carried out in 2022, this two-year trial checked out individuals who have been overweight or chubby, however didn’t have diabetes.

In most international locations, Wegovy has been authorised to be used for 2 years, but when individuals cease taking the drug, they often regain the misplaced weight – two-thirds of it after one year, according to one trial.

However in 2024, Donna Ryan on the Pennington Biomedical Analysis Middle in Louisiana and her colleagues discovered that taking the identical dose of semaglutide as soon as every week for 4 years led to reductions in weight that have been maintained for the complete interval.

The crew in contrast greater than 17,000 adults in 41 international locations who have been overweight or chubby and didn’t have diabetes, however did have a type of coronary heart illness. Amongst these taking semaglutide, weight loss continued to week 65 and was sustained over the trial, with the individuals’ dropping on common 10.2 per cent of their physique weight, in contrast with 1.5 per cent within the placebo group.

“Our long-term evaluation of semaglutide establishes that clinically related weight reduction might be sustained for as much as 4 years in a geographically and racially numerous inhabitants of adults with chubby and weight problems however not diabetes,” stated Ryan in an announcement.

It has been prompt that utilizing semaglutide for weight reduction must be a long-term strategy. “The load loss is simply sustained for so long as the drug is taken as a result of as quickly as you cease the drug, all of these physiological processes which are making an attempt to get your physique weight again up kick in once more,” says Cork.

The outcomes have led to calls to increase Wegovy’s remedy to no less than 4 years. Underneath the present two-year approval, there’ll in all probability be demand from individuals for docs to proceed prescribing the drug “off-label”. “I feel there’ll be an enormous push to attempt to change these tips,” says Cork. Ozempic might be prescribed long-term for sort 2 diabetes as a result of the situation is often life-long.

Do these medicine scale back the danger of heart-related occasions?

It has been prompt that by bringing individuals’s weight in direction of a more healthy vary, these drugs could inadvertently scale back the danger of heart-related occasions, comparable to coronary heart assaults and strokes.

Based mostly on the identical dataset utilized by Ryan and her colleagues, a crew at College School London examined the connection between a change in weight and cardiovascular outcomes. Presenting their outcomes on the European Congress on Weight problems in Venice, Italy, the researchers discovered that semaglutide led to a 20 per cent discount in such occasions, irrespective of individuals’s beginning weight or the quantity they misplaced.

“Our findings present that the magnitude of this remedy impact with semaglutide is impartial of the quantity of weight misplaced, suggesting that the drug has different actions which decrease cardiovascular danger past lowering unhealthy physique fats,” stated crew member John Deanfield in an announcement. “These various mechanisms could embody constructive impacts on blood sugar, blood strain, or irritation, in addition to direct results on the center muscle and blood vessels, or a mixture of a number of of those.”

The outcomes recommend that semaglutide might scale back the danger of heart-related occasions amongst people who find themselves simply mildly chubby. Nevertheless, the examine wasn’t designed to measure its impact as a preventative remedy. Additional analysis can be required amongst an much more racially numerous group of individuals.