The newest trend in Hollywood is the diabetes drug Ozempic. This weekly shot helps people with type 2 diabetes manage their blood sugar levels, but it has an interesting side effect. The drug can also cause rapid weight loss, and celebrities allegedly can’t get enough of it – literally. Now patients who need Ozempic for diabetes treatment are reporting shortages.
What is Ozempic? How does it work?
Ozempic (generic name: semaglutide) is an injectable drug taken once a week to manage blood sugar levels in people with type 2 diabetes. However, the same medication is also marketed as Wegovy thanks to its desirable side effect: rapid and seemingly effortless weight loss. The pen-style injector is designed to administer the medication subcutaneously (meaning under the skin) rather than intravenously, and most patients choose their belly as the target area.
The drug mimics a naturally occurring hormone, GLP-1, which tells your body to lower blood sugar levels after eating. However, GLP-1 also slows down how fast your stomach empties and how much glucose your liver releases. The combined effect can make you feel full for much longer and greatly reduce your appetite.
Online Ozempic prescriptions are big business
NBC tasked investigative journalist Vicky Nguyen with finding out just how easy it is to get a prescription for the so-called “skinny pen” online. The answer: very easy. Nguyen discovered over a dozen telehealth websites advertising the drug as a weight loss solution. Some of those sites offered same-day online prescriptions.
“Within a few moments, the website forwarded my request to a family nurse practitioner. We exchanged a few messages and I had my Ozempic prescription by the very next day. No one ever saw or spoke to me,” Nguyen says.
Doctors, nurse practitioners, and others with prescribing privileges are making it simple for customers to get prescriptions for the weight loss wonder drug – for a fee, of course. In addition to the $69-$75 fees paid by Nguyen during her investigation, patients who want to fill their new prescription will also need to shell out an astonishing $892.06 for the list price of the drug. However, manufacturer Novo Nordisk offers a voucher to get the drug for just $25 when the patient signs up online.
Chelsea Handler was using Ozempic without realizing it
Recently, comedian Chelsea Handler spoke up about quitting the drug once she realized that the injection she’d been taking for weight loss was, in fact, Ozempic. She said that her “anti-aging doctor just hands it out to anybody.” Handler is concerned that there may be serious consequences for people using the medication irresponsibly.
“It’s going to backfire,” Handler said. “Something bad is going to happen.”
