Deadly Side Effect of Popular Weight Loss Drug Revealed - Is It Worth the Risk?
Plus, celebs, success stories and how LA and NYC's Elite are Raving About Semaglutide for Weight Loss
Your Sage has rounded up the latest headlines from around the web this week including:
Baptism by Injection - How LA and NYC’s elite have jumped onboard the bandwagon
A Warning about a Rare Ozempic Side Effect That Could Be Deadly
UK’s Health Service and Weight Watchers Jump Onto the Bandwagon
USA Today on the costs of Obesity
And using Ozempic post bariatric surgery
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Baptism By Injection
TheCut brings us the story of “Allison”, an actress who despite not being overweight has been getting $625/month compounded Ozempic via mail.
She’s just not as hungry, which makes her not as anxious. During busy periods, when she may not be able to closely monitor or prepare her food and get to the gym daily, the Ozempic takes the nearly full-time job of body maintenance off her mind. Before Ozempic, she’d hole up in her hotel on film shoots, juice-cleansing to fit into her costumes. Now, she says, “you can eat one and a half meals a day and then you’re kind of hungry at night, but it’s not terrible. You can drink some tea with magnesium and maybe take a Xanax and get to sleep.”
If thin is an unspoken virtue, then part of its virtuousness comes from having worked for it, earned it.
The full article is well worth reading since it also covers Novo Nordisk’s phase-three trials of a semaglutide pill for obesity and a new compound medication that includes Cagrilintide and Semaglutide, known as CagriSema, that may deliver even more weight loss than its predecessors.
NHS Gets Onboard with Wegovy
The Independent reports that NHS - that’s the National Healht Service in the UK has given the green light to Wegovy.
Thousands are expected to be offered the appetite suppressant Wegovy on prescription after the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (Nice) gave it the green light for NHS use.
Experts described the decision as a “pivotal moment” for the treatment of people living with obesity but others warned that the drug is not a “quick fix”.
Patients with a BMI of over 35, and type 2 diabetes, prediabetes, high blood pressure, dyslipidaemia (unbalanced or unhealthy cholesterol levels), obstructive sleep apnoea and heart disease will be offered the prescription upon request, which is to be used alongside a calorie restricted diet.
NHS coverage for the drug tops out at two years… it’ll be interesting to see what happens when the “rebound” effect is noted.
Ozempic and Intestinal Obstruction
Fox News has a warning about side effects of Ozempic…
"Your blood sugar can drop too low, for example. You can have dizziness, you can have vomiting. If you have a history of thyroid cancer, it can reintroduce that cancer into your body. But why it's making headlines now is it's found to cause what's called intestinal obstruction. And that's not a common thing, but it's important that you're aware of these potential side effects. Intestinal obstruction could be life-threatening," Dr. Nesheiwat continued.
The Daily Mail follows-up with their own Clickbait headline about the same side-effect, Scientists raise alarm over potentially deadly side effect from celeb-favorite fat-loss drug Wegovy and Ozempic that may have been MISSED in trials . Read the original paper here which is based on a rat study…
Researchers in China believe the drugs may cause a person's small intestine to become enlarged, which puts them at high risk of a potentially deadly obstruction in their digestive system… The researchers also reviewed previous research on humans that suggest users of these types of drugs are up to four times more likely to suffer intestinal obstruction.
There’s strong human data to back that up. A 2022 British Study compared rates of intestinal obstructions between 25,617 GLP-1 users and 67,261 users of another type of diabetes drug:
Weight Watchers To Offer Semaglutide via Telehealth
CNN is reporting that Weight Watchers (NASDAQ: $WW) is throwing its hat into the fray, acquiring Sequence for $106 million.
In its investor presentation, Weight Watchers noted that Sequence is on a $25 million revenue run rate with with 24,000 paying members.
Diets, Bariatric Surgery, and Finally Ozempic
CBC brings us the story of Kerry Toneguzzi, who tried various diets, surgery, and ultimately ended up being prescribed Ozempic.
Toneguzzi, who has started a Facebook group in Ottawa for others who are considering Ozempic, has no illusions that the drug is anything short of a lifelong commitment to help maintain her weight.
She also wants to help others be realistic in their expectations, noting that along with taking Ozempic, she worked hard on her weight loss, including a "very regimented" approach to her diet.
"It's not a miracle," she said.
"It wasn't just the medication. I had to change my complete lifestyle."
Novo Nordisk, the manufacturer of Ozempic, has recently received approval from Health Canada for its new drug, Wegovy. The medication contains the same active ingredient as Ozempic, semaglutide, but in a higher dose specifically formulated to treat obesity.
Although both drugs share a common ingredient, Wegovy has been approved for individuals who are overweight and suffering from serious weight-related conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, and obstructive sleep apnea.
The cost of Ozempic in Canada ranges from $200 to $300 per month, but the price of Wegovy has not yet been made public.
Publicly available US Data shows that 1.2 million prescriptions where written for Ozempic in December 2022 alone.
USA Today on Cost/Benefits of Treatment
Treating the health effects of obesity costs the U.S. health care system $170 billion a year, according to ECRI.
Americans trying to lose weight spend another $70 billion a year – largely without success and often "for remedies that are unproven and maybe even counterproductive or dangerous," Schabacker said.
Weight loss medications are overpriced based on the value they provide, but "not dramatically" so, Rind said.
Semaglutide… typically costs consumers $13,618 a year but brings a value of $7,500 to $9,800, ICER found.
With Wegovy’s list price being $1349.02 a month and Mounjaro selling for $1000/month, the current solutions on the market aren’t cheap for those without insurance willing to pay.
And get this, according to Novo Nordisk, the makers of Wegovy, only about 40 million Americans have some insurance coverage for the drug. But wait, there's more. Apparently, 108 million adults in the US meet the definition for obesity! So basically, a lot of people could benefit from these drugs, but not everyone can afford them.
Mounjaro and Me: A Personal Tale
This personal experience piece shares the authors personal journey with Mounjaro:
I walked out of the doctor’s office white hot with shame about my health, despite my doctor’s optimism. How could I let it get this bad? Was I now my father? And, beyond that, the thought of taking a “weight loss” drug felt both like giving up on and a betrayal of the body positivity I’d struggled so hard to achieve.
I did what I always do when faced with a major life decision: I started talking to people — other doctors.
I realized something awful in this process: Not only do I struggle with the belief that the size of my body is my fault and a result of my neglectful actions, some other people feel that way, too.
But after many appointments and many questions, I decided to go on the drug.
Semaglutide Weight Loss Warrior
Congrats to “Few Mastadon” who went from 203lb to 111lb in 9 months on Mounjaro:
I gave myself Ozempic injections for 3 months and lost 10 pounds. My company switched insurance providers in January, the new provider will not pay for Ozempic or any brand and the weight came right back. I just found a clinic that offers a compound drug so the 10 pounds and more will hopefully be coming off soon. I need to lose 30 pounds to be within normal weight range.