Ozempic Is About to Be Old News

As weight-loss medications go, Ozempic is far from perfect. Though the drug has profound impacts, it requires weekly injections, a tolerance for uncomfortable side effects, and the stamina—not to mention the budget—for long-term treatment. (Ozempic has somehow become a catchall term for semaglutide but technically that product has gotten FDA sign-off only as a diabetes medication. A larger dose of semaglutide, marketed as Wegovy, has been approved for weight loss.)

  Ozempic Settles the Obesity Debate: It’s Biology Over Willpower

Weight-loss drugs affect the brain in ways that help researchers understand how the body regulates weight.

 Compounded Semaglutide: Is it worth the risk?

This drug was first approved in 2017 by the brand name Ozempic® for the treatment of diabetes. Due to its effects on weight loss, semaglutide was also approved in 2021 for weight management under the name Wegovy®. The sheer popularity of this drug has resulted in supply shortages, prompting some people to seek out compounded versions of the drug instead.

 Is Berberine Really 'Nature's Ozempic'?

An obesity medicine specialist shares his insights on the new social media craze.

 Obesity in the age of Ozempic

Drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy are changing how patients view their own weight struggles. Will society follow?

 Obesity specialists warn against 'bootleg' weight-loss drug

Semaglutide, a weight-loss drug developed by Novo Nordisk, is currently in short supply due to high demand, leading some people to seek out "generic" or compounded versions of the drug instead... But obesity specialists warn against using compounded semaglutide since its quality and safety cannot be guaranteed.

 The Diabetes Drug That Could Overshadow Ozempic

Demand is mounting for Mounjaro — though like some other trendy medications, it has yet to be approved for weight loss.

 The Real Cost of Ozempic

I inject myself once a week. It’s changing my body—but not how I see myself.

 What Is Ozempic? A Definitive Guide

Mainstream media has framed Ozempic as part of a "diet fad." But in reality, GLP-1 injections help people with diabetes, prediabetes, PCOS, reducing insulin resistance, and other related conditions. Ahead, doctors break down how these work, what they treat, side effects, and more.

 What the Ozempic Obsession Misses About Food and Health

What we have learned (or rather, confirmed) through this latest wave of weight loss drugs is that our society continues to prioritize thinness over actual health. While we focus on our scales and our waistlines as the North Star of wellness, we forget that we’re growing more deficient in a number of critical nutrients that protect us from disease.

'A Game Changer’: Drug Brings Weight Loss in Patients With Obesity

For the first time, a drug has been shown so effective against obesity that patients may dodge many of its worst consequences, including diabetes, researchers reported on Wednesday. The drug, semaglutide, made by Novo Nordisk, already is marketed as a treatment for Type 2 diabetes.

A new treatment for obesity

Wegovy is the latest in a line of medications, starting with phentermine in 1959, that have achieved FDA approval for the treatment of obesity. Currently there are 10 FDA-approved anti-obesity medications in the US: phentermine, diethylpropion, benzphetamine, phendimetrazine, orlistat, phentermine/topiramate ER (Qsymia), bupropion/naltrexone (Contrave), liraglutide (Saxenda), setmelanotide (Imcivree), and now semaglutide (Wegovy).

Explainer: New ‘skinny jab’ has been approved by the NHS - but does it work and can you buy it?

Websites appear to be defying a UK ban on advertising prescription drugs by urging customers to register their interest in the new weight-loss injection.

Here Are Some Ozempic Side Effects More Concerning Than “Ozempic Face”

Every drug comes with potential side effects. People taking Ozempic are discovering the issues that come with the weight loss medication that’s so trendy there's a shortage.

How a lizard’s venom inspired the promising weight loss drug Wegovy

The new treatment — a once-weekly injectable from Novo Nordisk, a Danish pharmaceutical company that has hired many leading diabetes and obesity scientists as consultants — is poised to safely help many people with health-threatening obesity, physicians and researchers say. It may even illuminate some of the mysteries around how appetite works in the first place.

How Ozempic Warps Our Relationship With Food and Pleasure

Weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy are just the latest in a depressing line of obesity ‘cures’.

I’m on Ozempic. Please Stop Making Me Feel Bad

I take semaglutide for my pre-diabetes, which is nearly impossible to treat without medical intervention. And I wish Ozempic critics—the most outspoken of whom happen to be naturally thin celebrities who have never had it or been obese—would understand.

Newly Approved Obesity Drug Wegovy Holds Promise, But Faces Reimbursement Challenges

The Wegovy approval continues a trend in which manufacturers of diabetes drugs repurpose them to treat other conditions that are common in diabetic patients. So, for example, the diabetes drugs Jardiance (empagliflozin) and Victoza (liraglutide) now have approvals for reducing the risk of heart attack, stroke and death in cardiovascular patients.

Novo Nordisk's Wegovy is First and Only Once-Weekly GLP-1 Agonist Approved for Weight Management

Bays added that Wegovy’s safety profile is “far safer” than earlier drugs for obesity that “have gone down in flames” over safety issues. The most common side effects of Wegovy are gastrointestinal problems such as nausea, diarrhea and vomiting. They typically subsided, but did cause about 5% of trial participants to stop taking the drug. There is also a possible risk for a type of thyroid tumor. As a result, the drug is contraindicated for people with a medical history or family history of certain thyroid and endocrine tumors. There is also a risk of depression and inflammation of the pancreas.

Once-Weekly Semaglutide in Adults with Overweight or Obesity

In participants with overweight or obesity, 2.4 mg of semaglutide once weekly plus lifestyle intervention was associated with sustained, clinically relevant reduction in body weight.

The FDA Has Approved An Obesity Drug That Helped Some People Drop Weight By 15%

Bays said Wegovy appears far safer than earlier obesity drugs that "have gone down in flames" over safety problems. Wegovy's most common side effects were gastrointestinal problems, including nausea, diarrhea and vomiting. Those usually subsided, but led about 5% of study participants to stop taking it.

The Truth About Ozempic, the ‘Secret’ Celebrity Weight Loss Drug

Diabetic patients who need the medication are now facing shortages after unfounded claims that celebrities are using it to lose weight.

This Diabetes Drug Is Being Prescribed Off-Label for Weight Loss. Now There’s a Shortage

Could Hollywood's latest obsession with thinness be to blame?

Those Weight Loss Drugs May Do a Number on Your Face

People using drugs like Ozempic are discovering an unwanted side effect: facial aging.

What Happens When You Stop Taking Ozempic?

Many people become heavier after halting the use of semaglutide to manage weight.

What is GLP-1 & Does it Affect Weight & Cognition?

Some scientists hypothesize that GLP-1 decreases appetite by acting on specific areas in the brain. One side effect of GLP-1 agonists is weight loss, which is usually desired in patients with type 2 diabetes. However, GLP-1’s effects on weight haven’t been properly verified in humans without diabetes.

What New Weight Loss Drugs Teach Us About Fat and Free Will

The new drugs are the first to manipulate the hormonal regulatory systems governing energy balance. The drugs simulate the action of our native GLP-1 but with longer-lasting effects, amplifying the fullness signal inside the body. People who struggle to feel sated suddenly don’t, effectively giving “someone the willpower of those lucky enough to have won the genetic lottery,” said Dr. Brierley.

What Ozempic Reveals About Desire

Discovering how the new weight loss medications alter appetite and the compulsive behavior that can be associated with it could offer new insight into the nature of pleasure and addictions.