The Science Behind Controversial New Weight Loss Drugs Like Ozempic
– People are raving about
a new way to lose weight. – [Narrator] Some now
calling it the skinny pen – Ozempic was originally developed to help patients manage diabetes. Then people and drug companies
saw beneficial side effect. It also helped with weight loss. Obesity and diabetes are related. Having obesity means you're
more likely to develop diabetes and then other chronic
conditions, like heart disease. So addressing weight was almost like a one-two punch to treat two major public health problems. Now there are more of
these drugs available. Let's go over how they
work, their side effects and the unintended consequences
of their new popularity.
The most popular Ozempic,
Wegovy and Mounjaro are actually quite similar. All of them come packaged
in injection pens with adjustable dosing. The Novo Nordisk version
actually has two names, Ozempic which is approved
for type two diabetes and Wegovy which is
approved for weight loss. Eli Lilly's, which is only approved for type two diabetes right now, is called Mounjaro but it's likely a version of it will soon be approved for weight loss too. Their active ingredients mimic the effects of a naturally occurring
hormone called GLP-1. Hormones are chemical messengers that relay information about the body from one organ to another. Here's an example. Anytime you eat, especially
if it's sugars or fats cells in the small and large
intestines release GLP-1. It gets pumped through the blood to different parts of the body.
When it interacts with the pancreas it promotes the production
and release of insulin. Insulin helps regulate blood sugar levels which is important for
people with diabetes plus as my coworker Peter Loftus, who's been covering GLP-1 drugs, told me – It also has this effect
of suppressing appetite and then making you
feel full when you eat. – Some research suggests that it does that by interacting with various brain areas, including the hypothalamus which is the brain's
control coordinating center. The brain reaches that
directly interact with GLP-1 relay messages to other parts of the brain that tell you to stop eating. It also helps slow down the
emptying of the stomach. – So that's the part that
becomes useful in weight loss. – And the effects of
these drugs on weight loss can be dramatic. People taking Wegovy, generally lose between
15 and 18% of body weight and with Mounjaro, patients have lost even more than that, up to nearly 23%.
That may be because Mounjaro contains a second hormone called GIP which also stimulates insulin secretion. – Eli Lilly believes that the
two of them working together can actually have an even greater benefit for weight loss and type two diabetes. – These effects are one reason why prescriptions are soaring. For Ozempic, they're up
102% in the last year. The other factor behind the
market boom is social media and that's where things
start getting complicated and even controversial. – People who don't meet those
obesity or overweight criteria are using them to shed 10 or 15 pounds and that's adding to the demand that really has complicated
the whole supply balance. – Because the drugs are approved doctors can legally prescribe
them at their own discretion. A journal analysis found
that telehealth companies were flooding social media with ads, and were prescribing these drugs with little oversight, sometimes to people who
don't meet the criteria for taking these meds.
The same journal report
found that ads claim that no diet or exercises
needed for it to work and that's not necessarily true. If you stop, chances are, you'll put the pounds back on again. Plus, the drugs are just too new to know what the long-term effects are, especially for people taking
them for casual weight loss. They've only been tested in people who are overweight or have obesity, but as with any medication there are known side effects. For these drugs, that includes nausea,
diarrhea, and vomiting. Some of these gastrointestinal
issues were so bad that people in clinical trials opted to stop taking the drugs.
More of these drugs will soon
be approved for weight loss but that doesn't mean
they'll be easy to access. They can cost anywhere from 800 to more than $1,300 dollar a month. Insurance typically
covers them for diabetes but not for weight loss. Pete told me that has to do with the enduring stigma around obesity – And that has spilled into how people are medically treated. – And its something doctors
are trying to change..
