If you spend any time on TikTok these days, you’ve likely heard about the miracle drug Ozempic via the viral hashtag #MyOzempicJourney, which showcases users’ dramatic weight loss achievements. Or maybe you’ve encountered the hashtag #ozempic, which has garnered 285 million views, or #ozempicweightloss, which has 114 million views. The drug’s popularity has been spurred on by rumors that Kim Kardashian used it to lose 16 pounds in three weeks in order to fit into Marilyn Monroe’s famous “Happy Birthday” dress for the 2022 Met Gala. Elon Musk, meanwhile, has tweeted about losing weight using Wegovy, a biosimilar drug.
These viral user endorsements have proved a blessing and a curse for Novo Nordisk, the Danish pharmaceutical giant behind both Ozempic and Wegovy, which are forms of the generic semaglutide. The demand for these injectable medications has grown so high over the past few months that Novo Nordisk is now scrambling to manufacture them—and advising people to wait before starting on the drugs, if they are able. Otherwise, they may be taking essential medications away from people who truly need them. Neither drug, as it turns out, is intended to be used for run-of-the-mill weight loss.
Ozempic was originally approved by the FDA in January 2017 to treat patients with Type 2 diabetes who need help regulating their insulin levels. After patients found that they felt full and needed to eat less while taking the drug, doctors began prescribing it for off-label use as a weight-loss medication for chronic obesity. In June 2021, Novo Nordisk received FDA approval to prescribe Wegovy (Musk’s drug of choice) for chronic weight management in adults with obesity or who are overweight with at least one weight-related condition, such as high blood pressure, Type 2 diabetes, or high cholesterol.
Those indications haven’t stopped people without obesity from using Ozempic and Wegovy to achieve drastic weight loss in a short period of time. In September, Variety reported that demand for Ozempic has been growing in Hollywood, with celebrities going to certain doctors and nutritionists to score prescriptions.
But the risks of taking these drugs outweigh the benefits for people who do not have obesity, says Dr. Rekha Kumar, an obesity specialist at New York City’s Weill Cornell and Head of Medical Affairs at the weight loss app Found, which offers telehealth services and prescriptions (including for Ozempic and Wegovy). The side effects of Ozempic and Wegovy include nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea.
Kumar adds that most people regain weight as soon as they stop taking these drugs, which have not been studied for their long-term effects on people without obesity. “You need to stay on the medicine typically to maintain the weight loss,” Kumar says, “all of the studies that look at this show that people regain most of the weight in the months after coming off of it. “
Some telehealth companies are nevertheless capitalizing on Ozempic’s new fame. Type “Ozempic weight loss” into your Google search bar and the first paid ad is likely from weight-loss telemedicine company Calibrate. The two-year-old company offers telehealth consultations and counseling services, and helps qualifying users get a semaglutide prescription. (Calibrate’s Chief Medical Officer, Dr. Kim Boyd says that to be eligible for Calibrate’s offerings, users need to meet the clinical definition for obesity and the FDA’s criteria for obesity treatment.) Other paid ads on Google are from telehealth services Plushcare and Next Medical. On all of those platforms, patients can get prescriptions for Ozempic and receive the medication right through the mail.
Other telehealth companies report being inundated with patient requests. Though less than 5% of Found patients are prescribed Ozempic, Kumar says she’s seen a spike in users joining the platform and specifically asking for the drug. Because of the drug’s popularity on social media, Kumar says that doctors find themselves in a tough position. “This is a really unique scenario, because there are not that many diseases where patients come to their doctors and tell them what medicine they want,” she says. Kumar reports that these patient requests have led to a lot of awkward conversations about whether it’s appropriate for the drug to be prescribed. Found only prescribes Ozempic to patients who have a BMI above 27 and have a weight-related condition, or a BMI of over 30.
Dr. Heather Martin, medical director of the primary care program at K Health, another telemedicine company, has also seen an explosion of interest in Ozempic, thanks to word of mouth and social media. Like Kumar, she warns that Ozempic should only be used to treat chronic obesity. (She takes the medication herself.) She says that K Health has a similar policy to Found when it comes to prescribing the drug.
Kumar also sounds a word of caution about other drugs that are being prescribed for off-label use as weight loss medications. She cites Mounjaro, another Type 2 diabetes drug, as an example. Regulators have fast-tracked the medication for review for treating obesity, but it has not been approved yet. “With the next generation of drugs used for weight loss, there might actually be such a thing as dangerous weight loss—weight loss that’s too rapid or too much. And we’re seeing this in early clinical trials [of Mounjaro].”
Despite this, Mounjaro is being offered by Calibrate, Plushcare, and Next Medical for telehealth customers. It’s likely only a matter of time before it, too, gets its 15 minutes of TikTok fame.
Recognize your brand’s excellence by applying to this year’s Brands That Matter Awards before the early-rate deadline, May 3.
