Doctors explain how Wegovy and Ozempic work

Anti-obesity medication are rising in reputation in the US as a higher variety of People are being identified with weight problems than ever earlier than. 

This week on 60 Minutes, correspondent Lesley Stahl reported on treatments for obesity which are typically costly and never all the time coated by medical health insurance.

Among the many drugs mentioned within the report are Wegovy and Ozempic. The medication are each made by the pharmaceutical firm Novo Nordisk and comprise the lively ingredient semaglutide. Apart from their beneficial dosage ranges, the drugs are the identical. Nonetheless, Novo Nordisk utilized for approval for them from the Meals and Drug Administration beneath totally different model names to deal with totally different situations. Ozempic was first accredited by the FDA as a kind 2 diabetes remedy in 2017. Wegovy was accredited by the FDA as a continual weight administration therapy in 2021.

Each medication are administered by an injection utilizing a tool that resembles an EpiPen. Within the video above, Dr. Caroline Apovian, a weight administration specialist at Brigham and Ladies’s Hospital in Boston, who consults for Novo Nordisk, explains how the drugs work. Dr. Apovian additionally famous that a few of the unwanted side effects of semaglutide embrace nausea, vomiting, and constipation. A whole record of side effects for the medication might be discovered online. 

Whereas reporting this story, 60 Minutes realized that some sufferers have skilled challenges discovering Wegovy and Ozempic regardless of being prescribed the drugs by a doctor. 

In an announcement, Novo Nordisk instructed 60 Minutes the intermittent shortages of Ozempic pens dosed at 0.25 mg and 0.5 mg had been attributable to “demand coupled with general world provide constraints.” The corporate stated all doses of Wegovy are on observe to be “broadly out there at retail pharmacies throughout the nation” to start with of 2023.

Novo Nordisk Statement to 60 Minutes

You’ll be able to watch Lesley Stahl’s full report on weight problems beneath.