Ozempic is at the forefront of a new wave of semaglutide-based drugs initially intended for Type 2 Diabetes patients. Originally introduced in 2017, Ozempic has become the poster child of a new brand of weight loss products, despite never being approved for weight loss by the FDA.
Ozempic’s weight loss stardom is also supported by a worldwide supply shortage of its prohibitively expensive cousin, Wegovy, an FDA-approved semaglutide drug for weight loss.
Spurred on by catchy advertising, many Americans seeking to lose weight have turned to Ozempic. Produced by the same manufacturer as Wegovy, Ozempic deploys a lower dose of semaglutide, but is far less expensive and can be covered by insurance if prescribed for type 2 diabetes. Unfortunately, the benefits end there. Besides potentially incurring severe side effects, nondiabetic individuals seeking Ozempic for weight loss must acquire it off-label, threatening to interfere with the supply of doses to patients who actually need the drug to function normally. Despite being engineered for those with T2D, social momentum and Wegovy supply shortages have ensured that Ozempic is now the weight loss drug.
The promise of a once-per-week injection significantly reducing people’s body weight is understandably enticing — trying to lose weight “naturally” is often a complicated and inconsistent process, sensitive to genetics and lifestyle choices. For the people targeted by Ozempic or Wegovy advertising, use of the drugs in their FDA-approved fashion is not cause for alarm.
What is alarming is the rising trend of consumers using Ozempic and related drugs as a substitute for healthy lifestyle choices, especially among individuals who are not chronically overweight or obese. Furthermore, the trend reduces the drugs’ supply for individuals who need them while accentuating the harm of unrealistic beauty standards. While public sentiment remains firmly against individuals using the drugs unnecessarily for weight loss, in a society dominated by drug abuse, widespread abuse of Ozempic and other GLP-1 agonists is a perilous and plausible possibility.
In a scenario in which semaglutide-based drugs are used to maintain unhealthy standards, prescription drugs such as Wegovy or Ozempic — otherwise treated as a means to ease a transition between lifestyles and no longer used after the desired outcome is achieved — become essential to maintaining one’s lifestyle. In this way, otherwise, routine prescription drugs become drugs of abuse — an increasingly large problem across age groups in the United States.
A similar situation with this type of drug abuse is already commonplace. On college campuses, 20-30% of students abuse Adderall for nonmedical purposes. Intended for individuals with ADHD, the drug improves focus and attention while suppressing impulsive behavior. Even though Adderall is a fairly benign stimulant when compared to other types of amphetamines, abusing Adderall still puts users at risk of addiction, and people without ADHD are at far higher risk of contracting adverse side effects. In the face of significant risks, the effects of Adderall are nevertheless highly attractive in an environment in which productivity is paramount — , a serious concern considering student mental health on U.S. campuses continues to worsen.
The prevalence of weight stigma in our society could ensure Ozempic becomes a similarly abused drug. Doctors have warned against the use of semaglutide for short-term weight reduction and maintained that it is a drug intended to produce safe and steady weight reduction over a sustained period of time of roughly one year. If the use of Ozempic for cosmetic purposes is stopped prematurely, patients will regain the weight they lost while on the drug. This bounce-back effect amplifies the risk of sustained abuse, as users will feel forced to resume abusing Ozempic to regain the ground they’ve lost.
The dangers of Ozempic reaching the status of abused drug for nondiabetic, nonoverweight individuals are compounded by the fact that GLP-1 agonists’ novelty means the long-term health consequences of decade-long semaglutide use are unknown. Multiyear clinical trials have suggested links to thyroid cancer, acute kidney injury, pancreatic cancer and hypoglycemia. Coupled with this weight loss are common side effects such as nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain and constipation. Even though these trials found fairly low chances for these complications, the duration of these trials makes the true risk of long-term semaglutide use inconclusive. Further long-term trials over the next five to 10 years must be conducted to conclusively determine these drugs’ potential consequences.
Alone, Ozempic and its associates cannot solve the underlying causes of the obesity crisis. Above all, America has a self esteem crisis, particularly when it comes to our bodies. Fueled by unattainable beauty standards and perpetuated by a rise in social media, Ozempic could do far more harm than good when it comes to otherwise healthy or even underweight individuals abusing Ozempic in their self-destructive quest to reach the ideal body. The physical goals of weight loss may easily be achieved with Ozempic, yet the underlying mental health problems associated with body dysmorphia ensure that this relief is only temporary and that persistent use of the drug will evolve into an abusive relationship that only accentuates the unhappiness users already have with their bodies.
Beyond Ozempic and other GLP-1 agonists, widespread societal change needs to occur to reevaluate perceptions of what is considered a healthy weight. Well-known celebrities’ widely publicized semaglutide abuse for moderate weight loss only exacerbates existing beauty standards and does not encourage individuals to think more realistically about their weight management. Ozempic cannot become just another weight loss trend. Instead, it must remain in the hands of those who need it most, while nonoverweight and nondiabetic individuals reshape their perceptions about what it means to be healthy. Only then can the narrative surrounding weight loss truly shift, and we can move towards a better future in which people have healthy relationships with weight loss.
Maximilian Schenke is an Opinion Columnist who is most passionate international politics, but often also writes about national politics, or whatever else is on his mind. He loves receiving criticism or otherwise at maxsch@umich.edu.