Weight loss with Ozempic can lead to quite a transformation.
Patients have been showing off their slimmer bodies, and crediting the self-injected Type 2 diabetes drug for curbing their appetite and eating less.
Ozempic isn’t approved for weight loss but that’s a famous side effect, so some doctors have been prescribing it off-label for that purpose. People with obesity seeking to lose weight can also turn to Wegovy, which contains semaglutide — the same active ingredient as in Ozempic — and is approved for weight loss.
The medication comes with side effects. The most common include nausea, diarrhea, vomiting, stomach pain and constipation, according to Novo Nordisk, the company that makes both Ozempic and Wegovy. But patients may also experience serious side effects such as pancreatitis, gallbladder problems and kidney failure, it warns.
People have to keep taking semaglutide for the drug to keep working — otherwise, they’ll regain much of the weight, studies have shown. It’s also expensive when not covered by insurance: The list price for a month’s supply is about $900 for Ozempic and $1,300 for Wegovy. Novo Nordisk says it supports a healthcare system that ensures patient access and affordability.Â
“We recognize that some people in the U.S. find it hard to pay for their healthcare, including our FDA-approved products containing semaglutide, which is why we continue to work to obtain broader coverage and greater access,” the company says in a statement to TODAY.com.
Here are patients’ experiences with Ozempic and Wegovy, and their before-and-after photos.
‘It makes food less important’
Pepper Schwartz doesn’t have Type 2 diabetes, but says she began using Ozempic off-label in 2022 after her doctor and follow-up medical tests deemed it appropriate for her situation, and her personal physician prescribed it. She has lost about 30 pounds and says the weight loss has now stabilized,…
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