This Week's Weight Loss Warrior Will Blow Your Mind with Their Incredible Transformation Story – Don't Miss It
Plus 3 Ordinary People and a Celebrity Spill the Tea on Their Ozempic Weight Loss Journey and 60 Minutes Ozempic Story Sparks FDA Investigation.
Your Semaglutide Sage has been busy rounding up the latest hot-off-the press news, in this week’s issue:
FDA launches investigation following 60 Minutes Story
WSJ’s investigative piece on startups offering Semaglutide prescriptions
Boots Pharmacy UK Is Making Big Moves in the Weight Loss World with Wegovy Prescriptions
Vogue Dives into the Post-Ozempic Body
Real Stories from Ozempic Users and Rosie O'Donnell: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
… and this week’s Weight Loss Warrior
Read on!
60 Minutes Gets Investigated by the FDA For Ozempic Story
In a press release issued by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine:
The FDA is investigating CBS’s 60 Minutes’ Jan. 1 news story about Novo Nordisk’s weight loss drug Wegovy as a result of a complaint filed by a nonprofit physicians group, arguing that the story was really an ad. This was confirmed by an FDA attorney who said that the agency is taking the complaint and investigation “very, very seriously.”
Drug ad, or news story? Watch here and reply to let me know what you think.
Semaglutide Via Telehealth: WSJ Investigation Reveals Surprising Findings
Quoting Dr. Nisha Patel who told the WSJ that “…these are being inappropriately used as a vanity drug”, the WSJ does a hit piece on healthcare service providers doling out prescriptions for Semaglutide and Mounjaro.
One of the services facilitated prescriptions for people whose weight was well below the FDA’s indicated body-mass index for the drug, according to a test run by the Journal and another person who tested the service. Some of the companies also have provided incomplete care to patients or given them an expectation they will receive the expensive drugs, only to find that insurance wouldn’t approve them, according to employees and customers.
There’s going to be good players, and bad players in the telehealth space…. but it’s good to see more companies making the drugs more accessible to patients who genuinely benefit from them.
Today.com also ran a similar story where a reporter and producer both were able to procure prescriptions for $69 and $75, even though they were wholly unqualified for them…
Boots Pharmacy Chain Joins Weight Loss Revolution with Wegovy Prescriptions
BBC reports that Boots Pharmacy is going to offer full-service prescription and dispensing of Wegovy, noting that NHS guidance (that’s the UK national healthcare system for you Americans) says patients should only stay on the medication for a maximum of two years.
Pricing is likely to be aggressively low:
Retailers have not said how much the service will cost, but according to draft guidelines for the NHS, the list price for a month's supply of four pre-filled disposable injection pens is £73.25 [$88 USD]. An agreed price for the NHS has not been disclosed, however.
The Standard in their coverage of the news notes that “Those who are offered treatment will receive follow up touch points and support from the Boots Online Doctor service throughout their weight loss journey and can access advice and support from our pharmacy teams in stores.”
What does it feel like to take Ozempic? + Rosie’s Experience
Today.com shares 3 Ozempic patient stories, writing:
The discomfort made her stop taking the drug after three months. She didn’t expect what happened next.
“Everything came back full force,” Baker recalled. “Like the all the crazy cravings that I’ve struggled with for the sweets, the junk food. And I felt like I was overcompensating.”
Baker’s weight didn’t drop. She gained 8 pounds while on Ozempic and after stopping the treatment, gained another 20 pounds, she said.
Meanwhile, Rosie O’Donell (who is diabetic) shared her experience on TikTok with Mounjaro saying:
"I've lost a little weight on this Mounjaro thing, and, you know, I'm sort of at a plateau of how much I've lost, and they say that's when you need to go up a dose," she said in a video clip. "I'm still on 2.5 [mg], even though it's been since December 16th.
Vogue on the “Post Ozempic Body”
The term “post-Ozempic body” is trending and is increasingly batted around in social media and IRL as speculation swirls following any high-profile — and highly visible — weight loss. Last month Elon Musk credited Wegovy, a similar drug, as one of the reasons for his more svelte appearance (fasting was the other); Andy Cohen tweeted about #Ozempic in September, a hashtag that has clocked over 274 million views on TikTok; and it’s been widely suggested that Kim Kardashian relied on the drug for dramatic weight loss in pursuit of fitting into Marilyn Monroe’s famous wiggle dress at this year’s Met Gala.
Read Vogue’s “What is Ozempic” article here.
This Week’s Weight Loss Warrior
AlternativeSalt5505 on Reddit shared 5 months of progress on Wegovy going from 193lb to 143lb: