This year, celebrity gossip, a national shortage and eyebrow-raising clinical trials made household names of weight-loss and diabetes drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro.
The buzzy drugs belong to a class of powerful medications that can manage blood sugar levels and drastically reduce body weight — a hot property that kicked them into the mainstream. This spring, even WeightWatchers got on board, acquiring a virtual clinic that offers prescriptions for the popular drugs.
The medications’ ever-expanding reach might explain why many people in the United States are having trouble filling prescriptions. From 2020 to 2022, the number of prescriptions for these drugs quadrupled — up to roughly 9 million in the final months of 2022, according to one analysis. In 2023, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration included both Ozempic and Wegovy on its drug shortages list.
And demand may continue to rocket up. Data from clinical trials and other studies suggest these drugs can improve cardiovascular health and perhaps even help treat addiction (SN: 8/30/23).
The FDA approved Ozempic for type 2 diabetes in 2017, and now new, potentially more potent and easier-to-produce versions are in the pipeline, says Susan Yanovski, a physician and nutrition specialist at the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases in Bethesda, Md. “I’ve been doing this for more than 30 years now, and I have not seen this degree of excitement.”
It’s the first time doctors have had obesity drugs that work so well, she says, approaching weight-loss levels previously seen only with bariatric surgery. But, Yanovski cautions, “it’s still early days.”
Amid the hubbub, a fresh influx of clinical trial data has opened a Pandora’s box of questions. How exactly do the drugs work? Who should take them? For how long? What’s the full range of side effects? “We’ve got a lot of research to do,” Yanovski says.
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