GOLDEN VALLEY, Minn. — You’ve probably heard about those popular drugs being used for weight loss. Originally, they were made to fight diabetes, then they were prescribed for those who struggle with obesity, but still others, who didn’t need the drugs, started using them. It created a shortage and started pitting people against each other.
So, we set out to learn more about the drugs, how they work, who is using them, are they dangerous, and what’s with the shortage? We also asked two women who use the drugs to come in and talk about their experiences. Shelley Appel is a type 2 diabetic and has been for 25 years. She started taking Ozempic last year.
"For years and years, I could not get my A1C down, and it's now 6.5. It's supposed to be under 7 and I couldn't do it without the Ozempic,” Shelle says.
Amy Velsor has been struggling with her weight since she was 8 years old. She tried every diet, and every fad and failed.
“Ultimately I ended up going for a gastric bypass about 9 years ago after I was done having my kids. I felt so sad that I was the mom at the park on the bench and not out playing with my kids and it broke my heart to be able to keep up with them,” says Amy.
After foot surgery last year, months of inactivity and menopause brought the weight right back. She was defeated and depressed and prescribed Wegovy.
“I have lost about 25 pounds, on a good day," she says.
Diet, exercise and other meds weren't enough to control Shelley’s diabetes. Diet and exercise were also not enough to help Amy get to a healthy weight. But a shortage of the drugs has people taking sides.
“I drove sometimes 40 miles to try to find a pharmacy that had it, and I decided to make the switch to Monjauro. I made the switch back to Ozempic probably two months ago,” says Shelley. “The people who really needed it couldn’t get it but celebrities could that was very frustrating,” she adds.
Amy admits she was reluctant to talk on camera about it because she was afraid of what others would think.
“There's still a lot of guilt because I know people who have diabetes and this drug is life-sustaining for them or part of a regimen that is life-sustaining for them and there's a piece of me that is very guilty about taking a drug that could possibly be saving someone else's life,” she says.
I think we can all agree that already thin celebrities shouldn't have first access to the drug, but are we putting obese people whose health is at risk in the same category?
“I'm fond of saying to many, or whoever will listen, these products are some of the best things that ever happened to all of us and some of the worst things that ever happened to us,” says Dr. Andrew Kraftson with the University of Michigan Health.
As an endocrinologist, Dr. Kraftson specializes in diabetes and obesity. He says the topic is complicated for a variety of reasons. But let's first explain what these drugs are and how they work. Drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy are part of a group of medications called GLP-1. Glucagon-like peptide. They mimic a hormone in the gut that helps suppress appetite.
“They help the body make more insulin so you can process the carbohydrates that you eat,” says Dr. Kraftson.
“It can also signal the brain to be less hungry, more full, less food noise, and it can slow down how quickly food goes through the stomach, so food sits there longer and you feel a bit fuller that way as well,” he adds.
Ozempic and Wegovy are made by the same company--Novo Nordisk. One for diabetes the other for weight loss. So, what's the difference?
“Semaglutide is in both Ozempic and Wegovy. It is exactly the same medicine. They differ in the device that's used to inject them,” says Dr Kraftson.
“They both start with the same first three doses and then they start to differ. So Wegovy has a slightly higher maximum dose versus Ozempic but they are quite similar,” he adds.
And maybe you've heard of Mounjurno and Zepbound? These two drugs are made by Eli Lily. Again, one for diabetes, the other for weight loss. They contain something called Tirzepatide.
“They're even closer. They're exactly the same device, exactly the same doses. Really the only indication is the label that you would see," says Dr. Kraftson.
And as more people become eligible for the medications--the less there is to go around. But who should get it? Yes, those with diabetes, of course. But Dr. Kraftson says untreated obesity can cause everything from diabetes to uncontrolled hypertension, to heart disease and the list goes on and on. However, cost and health disparities have become barriers.
“People cannot afford it. They are way too expensive for those who don't have any coverage and then insurance companies are deciding, you know this is too expensive if the prices are not lowered by the pharmaceutical companies, we can't afford covering these medicines for so many people."
He says some pharmacies have even refused to carry the drugs because it's become too much trouble. But the biggest problem is the shortages.
Novo Nordisk did not respond to our requests for an interview, but on the company’s website is a message to patients about the shortage of Wegovy.
Doug Langa, Executive Vice President, of North American Operations and President of Novo Nordisk Inc., says they are running their production facilities 24 hours a day, seven days a week to try to combat the shortage.
He goes on to say, “Our aim is to support a level of new patients that does not exceed our current supply capacity.”
“I think what we should have done with these drugs is what we did with the COVID vaccine. There's a limited supply they should have rationed it and given it to people based on their need so at the very front of the line would have been people with diabetes and very severely obese people who both have huge needs,” says Johann Hari.
Hari spent a year researching these drugs and wrote the book "Magic Pill" He also takes Ozempic for weight loss. He agrees that the costs and shortages are the biggest issues.
“Americans are ripped off for all drugs. You pay vastly more for everything. That should be a political scandal that you should deal with. I’m constantly amazed that people are not much more enraged by it and more politically active about it,” says Hari
“So, we can end up in this dystopian situation where The Real Housewives of New Jersey get to be bone thin, while the real school children of New Jersey get diabetes at age 12. This is not a good situation," He adds.
So let's just say you have access. Should you even take these drugs? Are they safe? Johann's book covers, what he says, are 12 disturbing risks of taking these drugs. Including the potential increased risk of cancer, the effects on people with eating disorders and any long-term effects that we don't yet know. The risk versus reward that needs to be weighed is an individual decision.
“In this society, in this culture, we are pumped full of processed foods from the moment we are born. We're in a trap, right? We should dismantle the trap for the next generation. We should make sure this doesn’t happen to our kids but for those of us who are like me in their mid-40s, we’re being offered a risky, rusty trap door. I've chosen to go through the trap door. I don't know if it was the right decision. But if you're in a trap you've got to admit where you are and think in a sober-minded way about how to get out, says Hari.
Doctor Kraftson says at this point he believes these are good medications, we just need to make them more accessible. He also says we can’t just medicate obesity away. These drugs need to be paired with diet and exercise and under the supervision of your physician.
And for the two women we interviewed, it’s been life-changing.
“It's a game changer,” says Shelley.
“Absolutely, I would do it again, no questions asked,” says Amy.
As you decide whether these drugs are the right path for you, both Dr. Kraftson and author Johann Hari, caution how you go about it. Some people have been taking a backdoor approach, getting the drugs through different channels.
“Whenever there is a shortage of FDA-approved medication, there are opportunities for certain pharmacies to have a recipe, some ingredients, and to replicate the medications to meet the need of the shortage. The process is not totally transparent. There are different types of compounding pharmacies that have different levels of oversight and there simply isn’t the manpower to audit all of these places. And so you’re getting folks putting in non-human studied substances that are supposed to be exactly the same but are not necessarily the same,” he says.
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