"What one month on Ozempic can do to your body," "The correct way to use Ozempic," and "Before and after Ozempic" are just some of the titles you'll encounter when you open TikTok and enter the name of the drug Ozempic in the search bar . An endless stream of videos, filled with tutorials on how to use this medicine, the miraculous results achieved after weeks of administration, its side effects, and the transformations your body undergoes. But what exactly is it? And why does this drug's virality pose a threat to society?
Ozempic, why all this popularity?
As often happens in Western society, according to the sociological trickle-down theory , the hashtag #Ozempic began to go viral on social media after it became a trend among Hollywood stars, who use it to lose weight . Elon Musk tweeted about the beneficial effects he experienced from taking Wegovy (a drug for severe obesity that has the same active ingredient as Ozempic), as did Andy Cohen, who posted about Ozempic's growing popularity. In September, Variety reported that actors and producers are praising the drug via encrypted messaging apps.
The result is that young people and adults alike have begun to use it and promote it as a life-changing opportunity, as it allows you to lose a lot of weight in a very short time. Social media has been filled with millions of posts with the hashtag #ozempic, promoting its use without any oversight from the relevant authorities.
Ozempic, Wegovy, and obesity drugs
Ozempic is a diabetes medication first approved by the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) in 2017 for the treatment of type 2 diabetes. In 2022, a drug that works on a similar principle to Ozempic, called Wegovy, was approved for use. It was developed to treat severe obesity and is available exclusively for adults with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of over 35.
The FDA did not approve Ozempic for weight loss, but after it authorized Wegovy for this purpose, there was such a demand for the drug that some suppliers turned to Ozempic when they could no longer obtain Wegovy. Pharmaceutical companies, of course, wasted no time in producing other similar drugs, and in November 2023, the FDA approved Zepbound, another weight management drug, and similar ones are in development, whose active ingredients are always inspired by anti-diabetes drugs.
How does Ozempic work?
Medically, Ozempic is injected by diabetic patients once a week , and its active ingredient (semaglutide) lowers blood sugar levels, thereby regulating insulin and counteracting type 2 diabetes. The drug works by mimicking a hormone similar to glucagon, called peptide-1, which limits our appetite and is produced in our intestines.
This hormone, on the one hand, signals our brain that we're full, and on the other, it acts on the stomach, causing it to empty more slowly . This mechanism is thought to produce the desired weight loss effect, in a relatively short time. The drug, however, is not without side effects and can cause nausea, but also dehydration, constipation, chronic fatigue, malaise, and intestinal irregularity, even requiring hospitalization in the most severe cases. Therefore, its use must be monitored by competent physicians.
Prescription and off-label use of the drug
Furthermore, an important consideration is that the long-term effects of Ozempic have not yet been significantly studied in a non-diabetic, non-severely overweight population seeking to lose weight. Officially, Ozempic is not indicated for weight loss , although it is possible to find specialists prescribing it for this purpose under a so-called off-label prescription. This means that the prescriber is responsible for the drug and the patient's informed consent is obtained because it is used in a manner that does not comply with the product's summary of characteristics.
Doctors' prescriptions must be very detailed, even for diabetics themselves, as they are reserved only for patients whose drug treatment with metformin (an oral antidiabetic) has not been sufficient to lower their blood sugar levels.
Lack of medicine for diabetics
However, thanks to off-label prescriptions, obtaining the drug is often simple and straightforward, despite the stringent criteria imposed by the competent authorities. Given these circumstances, several doctors are beginning to worry about the drug's popularity, precisely because more and more people, driven by the blind desire to emulate their idols and to appear fit, are using it, stealing it from diabetics who truly need its active ingredient to survive.
Patients with diabetes already have difficulty accessing it, and in 2023 the Italian Medicines Agency published an information note on its official website regarding its availability:
“ – Increased demand for Ozempic® has led to shortages that are expected to continue throughout 2023. While supply continues to increase, it is not possible to predict with certainty when it will be sufficient to fully meet current demand.
- Delayed awareness of a stockout situation may result in patients being unable to obtain the necessary doses, with possible clinical consequences such as hyperglycemia.
- Ozempic® is indicated only for the treatment of adults with inadequately controlled type 2 diabetes mellitus as an adjunct to diet and exercise. Any other use, including weight management, is an off-label use and currently jeopardizes the availability of Ozempic® for the indicated population.”
Ozempic, social media and DCA
The emergency has thus gained widespread significance in the Western world, and in Italy, even some eating disorder centers have dedicated entire sections of their websites to informing patients about the risks of taking medications like Ozempic or Wegovy. This raises the question of how the simplistic off-label procurement system, in addition to endangering people with type 2 diabetes due to its scarcity, also poses a threat to people suffering from eating disorders, who would resort to any means to achieve immediate and extreme weight loss, with predictable disastrous repercussions for their physical and mental health.
Furthermore, the uncontrolled promotion of these drugs via social media risks normalizing their uncontrolled use, spreading a dangerous ideology that pushes the most vulnerable group of users, adolescents, to abuse the tools to achieve an unrealistic idea of physical perfection, promoted by social media users themselves, even though they do not suffer from serious illnesses or obesity. The dangerous filter bubble that populates the feeds of millions of adolescents risks sending them into a loop of dysfunctional thoughts based on their cognitive biases. And if their interests (or obsessions) fall within the realm of physical appearance related to thinness, "unblocking the algorithm" associated with the hashtag #ozempic could have long-term social consequences that are, to say the least, worrying.
Mayla Bottaro
