Losing weight with diabetes drug: Strong demand leads to Ozempic shortages

Created: 11/14/2022, 8:30 p.m

By: Juliane Gutmann

Lose weight quickly: With the drug Ozempic, this should be possible, as TikTok users predict.

Pharmacists are now warning of the consequences for diabetes patients.

Fashion, makeup to nutrition tips: not all TikTok trends are harmless.

The diabetes drug Ozempic with the active ingredient semaglutide is currently experiencing a hype that can have dangerous consequences for diabetics, as the

reports.

Ozempic is approved as a drug for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and for long-term weight management.

"Ozempic is a diabetes medicine that is used in addition to diet and exercise to treat adults whose type 2 diabetes is not adequately controlled," says the

.

Like the

informed, it requires a prescription and is offered as an injection in a pre-filled pen.

Injected once a week, the active ingredient semaglutide in Ozempic stimulates the body to release insulin, which helps control blood sugar levels.

This effect prevents, for example, food cravings, which makes the preparation interesting in terms of body weight control.

According to the German Society for Endocrinology, semaglutide can help you lose weight, "because semaglutide leads to a weight loss of around 15 percent even in people without diabetes," the society is quoted as saying by the

.

The active ingredient is increasingly being used “off label” in overweight people.

As a result, the supply of diabetics is endangered, according to the

.

And possible side effects must also be taken seriously.

Ozempic is a drug prescribed to people with diabetes.

But there are also people who use it for weight loss.

© Remko de Waal/Imago

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Diabetes drug Ozempic promoted by TikTok users as a slimming product

The problem is not new.

Again and again, diabetes medication is misused and used exclusively for weight loss.

According to the

, at the beginning of the year there was a supply bottleneck for the preparation Trulicity with the active ingredient dulaglutide, which can also

.

TikTok also contributes to the fact that diabetes preparations are used as lifestyle drugs.

About six months ago, a viral TikTok trend in Australia led to a shortage of the diabetes drug Ozempic.

TikTok users had advertised the drug as a slimming product.

And a TikTok hype is also currently causing Ozempic delivery bottlenecks, as the

informed in November 2022.

In the article, the

quotes Professor Schneider:

There (Editor's note: In the USA) the prescription diabetes drug Ozempic is used very heavily off-label, i.e. without approval, for weight loss;

also because many celebrities like Elon Musk promote it heavily.

The hashtag #Ozempic alone has been shared 350 million times on social media.

professor dr

medical

Harald J. Schneider, spokesman for the Applied Endocrinology Section of the DGE (German Society for Nutrition) from Munich and Landshut

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Side Effects of Ozempic

The off-label use (the use of drugs for diseases for which the drug authorities have not approved a preparation) is dangerous, especially with regard to supply bottlenecks.

In the worst case, diabetics can no longer receive the best possible care if drugs like Ozempic are not on the market.

Taking Ozempic can be dangerous if not under medical supervision.

Interactions with other medicines and side effects are possible, according to the

and the

these include :

• diarrhea, vomiting and nausea

• stomach pain

• constipation

• gallstones

• Exhaustion Syndrome (Fatigue)

• dizziness

• taste disorders

• Serious to life-threatening side effects: inflammation of the pancreas, low blood sugar (hypoglycemia), kidney problems including kidney failure, thyroid tumors and cancer, vision problems (diabetic retinopathy) and severe allergic reactions