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--:-- Host (John Bickley): A prescription diabetes drug called Ozempic is experiencing supply disruptions after being popularized as a miracle off-label weight loss drug, rumored to be used by some of the biggest Hollywood stars. Ozempic and other drugs like it have become a trending topic on social media for months now, both for its alleged miraculous weight loss effects as well as troubling side effects. For this Sunday edition of Morning Wire, we discuss Ozempic and its uses, both prescribed and off-label.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Thanks for waking up with us. It's January 29th, and this is your Sunday edition of Morning Wire. The current administration's New Year's goals are to tax, spend, and turn a blind eye to inflation. If that's at odds with your goals, get in touch with the experts at Birch Gold today. Birch Gold makes it easy to convert an IRA or 401k into an IRA and precious metals. Text WIRE to 989898 to claim your free info kit on gold and talk to one of their precious metal experts. Birch Gold has an A-plus rating with the Better Business Bureau, thousands of happy customers, and countless five-star reviews. You can trust Birch Gold to help protect your savings. Text WIRE to 989898 today.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Ozempic has taken the weight loss world by storm. While it's prescribed to treat diabetes, many people, including celebrities, are using it for weight loss. Here to discuss is Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestigiacomo.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: So, tell us a little bit about this drug and why it's getting so much attention.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Sure. Ozempic is a prescription drug generally designed to treat type 2 diabetes. It's a once-a-week injectable developed by a company called Novo Nordisk back in 2012. It contains semaglutide which is linked to weight loss. Now, semaglutide is also in a drug called Wagovi, which is marketed specifically for weight loss and also made by the same company. Wagovi was approved fairly recently in June of 2021 by the FDA. Now, when it comes to the cost of the drug, it depends on your healthcare coverage, of course, but the out-of-pocket cost is around $1,300 for a monthly supply, so it's pretty pricey.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Ozempic has gained an enormous amount of attention online recently, content with the hashtag Ozempic on social media platforms like TikTok, for example, that content has been viewed more than 600 million times. Ozempic seems to have first gained traction because it was rumored to be this secret of the stars weight loss drug. Celebrities who've been linked to the drug include Kim and Khloe Kardashian, Kyle Richards, and even Elon Musk. Kim Kardashian was widely rumored to have used the drug to slim down to quickly fit into that Marilyn Monroe dress back at the Met Gala in May. Now, the Kardashians and Richards have denied using the drug, but Musk has admitted to using Wigofi, which is Ozempic's sort of sister drug intended for weight loss. Just this past week, comedian and actress Chelsea Handler admitted to using Ozempic too.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Here's Handler on the Call Her Daddy podcast. I came back from a vacation and I injected myself with it. And I went to lunch with like a girlfriend a few days later, And she's like, I'm not really eating anything. I'm so nauseous. I'm on Ozempic. I'm nauseous too. And then I'm like, but I'm not on Ozempic. And she's like, are you sure? And I'm like, well, what is it? I go, I'm on semaglutide. And she goes, that's Ozempic.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Handler joked that her so-called anti-aging doctor, quote, just hands it out to anybody. She also said that she stopped using the drug after she learned about the Ozempic supply issues for people who actually suffer with type 2 diabetes. Starting back in September, that's when doctors were really sounding the alarm about this shortage of Ozempic for people who have diabetes.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Another person who's been open about using Ozempic is social media influencer and Victoria's Secret ambassador Remy Bader. Bader said she lost weight on the drug years ago, but when she got off Ozempic, her cravings came back stronger than ever before and she ended up putting on twice the amount of weight she had lost.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): So this drug supposedly makes people lose weight really quickly. I think most people listening are probably wondering, is it actually safe? Right? That's the first question on a lot of people's minds. To learn more about the drug, including some of these side effects, I spoke to Angela Fitch, president of the Obesity Medicine Association Board of Trustees and faculty at Harvard Medical School.
--:-- Angela Fitch: So the brand name Ozempic that you're referring to is a medication that's FDA approved for diabetes treatment. But the same drug is also FDA approved for obesity treatment, which is the drug Wecovi. So both of these drugs are semaglutide. So it's important for people to understand that they're the same exact drug.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: One of the things it does is it slows down the emptying of your stomach so your food doesn't travel through as fast so you feel fuller sooner. The other thing it works on is it works on how our body sees and stores energy. So again, it's more than just an appetite suppressant.
--:-- Angela Fitch: So people who are on Ozempic, how much weight are they actually losing on the drug and do they keep it off once they're off the medication? That's a great question. When people are taking Ozempic most of the time, they're taking it for diabetes. So when patients have diabetes, it's actually harder for them to lose weight, so to speak. On average, if we look at people who don't have diabetes, if we look at people with only obesity, they don't have any diabetes yet. They may have pre-diabetes or they may be getting close to that as their weight gets higher, but they don't have diabetes right now. Those patients in almost 40% of those patients are able to lose 20% of their weight.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Now, a lot of people are concerned about risks associated with the drug. Can you tell us about those?
--:-- Angela Fitch: In the short term, I mean, the biggest side effects of the drug initially are nausea, a feeling of, you know, sort of having an upset stomach, if you will, or just not being interested in eating. Other side effects are sometimes constipation, sometimes diarrhea. But otherwise, it an extremely well medication.
--:-- Amanda Prestigiacomo: Now, Dr. Fitch, can you tell us about any risks to thyroid tumors including thyroid cancer associated with Ozempic?
--:-- Angela Fitch: There is a black box warning on this medication and it on all the medications of this drug class. So this drug class is called the GLP-1 agonist. There are probably like 10 of them on the market today. These GLP-1 agonists came onto the market 20 years ago. Well, in the early days of the rodent studies, the rats got thyroid cancer. But this has only been seen in rats. So again, there's been a lot of use of these agents over the past 20 years. I mean, different, not somaglutide, because that's only been on the market for a shorter period of time. It's a newer one of these types of drugs. But the older versions of these drugs have been around for quite some time, especially a drug called laraglutide. If you look at large populations of people, you don't see that there's an extremely high risk of having thyroid cancer in that population. So it is very challenging to extrapolate from the rat data that there is that harm. And again, that's where that risk benefit comes into play. For many people, the risk of thyroid cancer is so low anyway, unless you have exposure to radiation or other types of problems in your life, or you have a family history. And that's why we're very good about asking patients about their family history. We don't advocate as a society and as a professional in the obesity treatment space, you know, we shouldn't be using medications like this for five to 10 pounds of weight loss in someone who's already quite lean, right? So, I mean, that's where some of the, I think, criticism has come out.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): Clearly, Dr. Fitch maintains that this is a powerful drug when it's used properly for the treatment of people with diabetes, prediabetes, and obesity. But she also stressed that medical professionals should not be prescribing it to just anyone for losing a mere five to 10 pounds. And that's what other experts have been sounding the alarm over. Prescribing a drug for something other than its intended use, particularly in situations like this, where there's a craze that could be driving people to use it recklessly. Couple that with these supply issues, and it's an even bigger mess.
--:-- Host (John Bickley): That was Daily Wire reporter Amanda Prestigiacomo, and this has been a Sunday edition of Morning Wire. Thank you.
