Ozempic: The Drug with an Unintentional Identity Crisis

You may have heard of it in the news, on social media, or from your family. Ozempic is a medication that initially came onto the market to treat diabetes, but due to its convenient side effect of weight loss, the drug has quickly adopted off-label use among the rich and famous. This increase in demand caused a shortage amongst patients who need it to manage their diabetes, alongside warping public perception of the drug.

Ozempic, also known by its generic name semaglutide, is a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist. The GLP-1 receptor, when activated, promotes insulin production in the pancreas while also decreasing glucagon production. This makes it a highly efficacious drug for insulin-resistant patients, namely Type II diabetics. However, GLP-1 also slows gastric emptying, allowing patients to stay fuller for longer, causing a decrease in their daily caloric intake, and ultimately leading to weight loss. A study published in The New England Journal of Medicine found a mean change in body weight over 68 weeks of -14.9% in the semaglutide group compared to -2.4% in the placebo group.

Due to its substantial weight loss effects, the FDA approved semaglutide to be prescribed specifically for weight management. Distributed in a higher dose and under the name Wegovy, the drug took social media by storm. However, because it was marketed as a weight loss drug rather than a diabetes drug, insurance companies were much less likely to cover Wegovy compared to Ozempic. Without insurance, Wegovy costs about $1,300 for a 28 supply, while Ozempic only costs about $900 for the same duration.

In an effort to both save money and take advantage of semaglutide’s weight-loss properties, Americans (namely spearheaded by the rich and famous) purchased large amounts of Ozempic, leading to a nationwide shortage. This shortage led to those who depended on Ozempic for close management of their Type II diabetes to miss doses. Black-ish actor Anthony Anderson, a Type II diabetic taking Ozempic, summarized it best, stating that “it’s creating a shortage for those of us who need the medicine…not for weight loss issues, but for our health”.

Although parent company Novo Nordisk managed to restock Ozempic in late March 2023, its public perception as a weight loss drug has not faded. Diabetics feel that the trivialization of the drug as an “easy weight loss tool” detracts from its original intent at disease management and places a stigma on its use. Whether Ozempic, alongside other drugs in its class, continues to be used as a weight loss drug remains to be seen. Ozempic’s identity crisis should serve as an example to pharmaceutical companies on what to expect when a drug’s convenient side effect quickly becomes its most defining feature.

Alec Simoni

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Alec Simoni is a medical student of the Class of 2026 at The University of Arizona College of Medicine – Phoenix. He graduated from UCLA majoring in Psychobiology and minoring in Classical Civilization. When he's not spending his time skating around the streets of Downtown Phoenix in search of a new lunch spot, Alec enjoys reading classical Roman and Greek literature and working out at the gym. Feel free to contact him at @alecsimoni on Instagram or alecsimoni@arizona.edu

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