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Ozempic and Wegovy are brand names for the drug semaglutide. Many countries have approved Wegovy for weight loss in people who are obese or overweight and Ozempic for weight loss in people with type 2 diabetes.
How do these drugs work?
Drugs such as semaglutide mimic the effects of a hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1). These so-called GLP-1 analogs have several effects, including slowing stomach emptying, acting on the brain to reduce appetite, and promoting the release of insulin, which helps regulate blood sugar levels. .
GLP-1 analogs have been used for more than a decade to help control blood sugar in people with type 2 diabetes, and some users have experienced slight weight loss. “These drugs strengthen a system already present in the human body, whose job is to suppress appetite after eating a meal,” says Simon Koch of Imperial College London.
Why are they making headlines now?
GLP-1 analogs are beginning to be prescribed for weight loss in people without type 2 diabetes. It is also now available in more potent and easier-to-use formulations.
Initially, GLP-1 analogs were approved for use in low doses and had to be administered as twice-daily injections. The latest formulation is a once-weekly injection, with a full dose of Wegovy at 2.4 milligrams for weight loss and Ozempic at a maximum dose of 2 milligrams for type 2 diabetes.
How widely available are they?
In 2021, Wegovy was approved for weight loss purposes in several countries, including the United States and Canada. It has become widely known due to praise from some famous users.
Some doctors began prescribing Ozempic after manufacturing problems prevented the manufacturer, Novo Nordisk, from meeting global demand. Ozempic was approved for her type 2 diabetes patients in certain countries several years ago. This led to a shortage of people needed to manage diabetes.
In the UK, Wegoby was approved in 2021, but the UK’s medical guidelines body, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, gave consent in March 2023, and the drug was approved for use in weight loss clinics within the country’s National Health Service. It was of the opinion that the drug should be administered. . Wegovy is due to be available in the UK this year, while Ozempic has been available for type 2 diabetes since 2019.
In June 2023, the UK government announced a two-year trial to make new medicines such as Wegoby available to obese patients outside of hospital settings.
How effective is it?
very. It’s a cliché, but obesity doctors are talking about a paradigm shift in the field of obesity management. Previously, a loss of approximately 5 percent of body weight was considered a good outcome for weight loss interventions other than gastric surgery and was considered the benchmark for obesity drug trials.
Wegovy helps you lose about 15% of your body weight in one year when combined with exercise and a healthy diet.
In fact, some people may feel that GLP-1 analogues make them too thin, as reflected in the rise in search terms for “ozempic face” and “ozempic butt.” “Ozempic has no special effects on the skin,” says Alexander Milas of the University of Ulster, UK. It is weight loss that causes these obvious side effects, he says, and similar results often occur after weight loss surgery.
Does the drug have side effects?
Side effects are mild, such as nausea, constipation, and diarrhea, but tend to occur as you get used to the drug. More worrisome side effects include inflammation of the pancreas, but this is relatively rare.
What about hair removal?
Hair loss has been reported by some users of semaglutide. Milas says this can also be seen after significant weight loss due to other causes, such as gastric surgery.
Hair loss after weight loss surgery is thought to be due to physiological stress on the body, which causes an increase in the number of hair follicles that enter a “resting” phase, causing the hair to fall out after a few months. Once the weight loss stabilizes, the hair will stop growing, but that doesn’t necessarily mean it will grow back, Milas says.
Do these drugs cause suicidal thoughts?
GLP-1 analogues such as Ozempic and Wegovy are being investigated by the European Medicines Agency (EMA) following recent reports that they may cause suicidal thoughts and self-harm. This came after Iceland’s health regulator received three reports regarding semaglutide and another drug called liraglutide, an early GLP-1 analogue.
The EMA said it was analyzing around 150 reports of possible self-harm or suicidal thoughts. However, this does not mean that the drug caused these effects, just that people reported these experiences after starting to take the drug. “More research is needed to determine whether a causal relationship exists,” says Michael Schwartz of the University of Washington in Seattle.
A spokesperson for Novo Nordisk, the maker of liraglutide and semaglutide drugs Ozempic and Wigovy, said: new scientist: “GLP-1 receptor agonists have been used for more than 15 years to treat type 2 diabetes and for 8 years to treat obesity. Safety data collected from extensive clinical trial programs and post-marketing surveillance… , has not demonstrated a causal relationship between semaglutide or liraglutide and suicide and self-harm.”
Need a listening ear? British Samaritans: 116123; US 988 Suicide and Crisis Lifeline: 988; Hotlines in other countries.
Are these drugs effective for addiction?
perhaps. There are many anecdotes of people taking these drugs for diabetes or weight management who have lost the urge to drink alcohol or seen other habits that could be described as “behavioral addictions” such as compulsive shopping fade. has been reported.
This is supported by animal studies that found that GLP-1 analogs lower intake of alcohol and addictive drugs. A small human trial suggested a similar effect with a GLP-1 analog called exenatide, which reduced heavy drinking, but only in obese people.
This explanation may be related to how the drug acts on the brain to suppress appetite, but the exact mechanism is unknown. Daniel Drucker of Sinai Health in Toronto, Canada, says we’re still just beginning to understand how these treatments can support people who are adding to alcohol or drugs. . “Clinical trial data do not yet support anecdotes.”
What will happen to the user’s weight in the long run?
Wegovy’s longest trial lasted two years and found that people’s weight almost leveled off in the second year.
Wegoby is approved for use in most countries for two years, but one study found that if you stop taking it, you typically regain two-thirds of the weight you lost after a year.
“Weight loss only lasts for as long as you are on the drug, because as soon as you stop the drug, all the physiological processes that try to put the weight back on start again,” Koch says.
This suggests that there is demand from consumers for doctors to continue prescribing the drug “off-label” after two years of use. “I think there will be a big push to change these guidelines,” Koch said.
Because type 2 diabetes is usually lifelong, Ozempic may be prescribed long-term.
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