Cormeshia Batty
The Oscars: The moment when Hollywood’s most famous and glamorous gather to accept awards and show off their couture.
“Everybody looks great,” remarked host Jimmy Kimmel, walking around the stage a few weeks ago, looking at all the famous faces.
“When I look at this room, I can’t help but wonder: Is Ozempic right for me?”
There are occasional laughs, but the joke seems to hit a little too close to home. After all, Ozempic has been called “Hollywood’s worst kept secret.”
“Hollywood’s worst kept secret”
Over the past few months, Ozempic has exploded onto the scene, with everyone from Elon Musk to Chelsea Handler talking about getting versions of the drug.
“My doctor … would just give it to anybody,” comedian Chelsea Handler said on a podcast.
But Ozempic’s rise to superstardom wasn’t something most people predicted. In fact, the drug was created by Novo Nordisk to help diabetes patients control their blood sugar.
But the drug’s rapid weight loss side effect quickly stole the headlines and made Ozempic a very hot commodity. Being so hot, it caused some problems for the people it was originally intended to help.
“I’m willing to try anything”
Five years ago, ShantaQuilette Develle Carter-Williams had a health crisis. He suffered a stroke at the age of 39 and temporarily lost the use of his left side.
Carter-Williams is a stand-up comedian, writer and producer in Los Angeles and was unable to work after his stroke.
“I’m eating and gaining weight and I’m just really worried that if I keep this weight on, the odds of having another stroke are very high.”
His doctor suggested he try Ozempic to lower his blood sugar and also help him lose weight and prevent another stroke.
“I had never heard of Ozempic,” he recalled. “But, you know, I’m willing to try anything.”
“You really forgot to eat”
Ozempic and a similar drug, Wegovy, are weekly shots you give yourself that cause the body to produce insulin. Insulin lowers blood sugar, slows digestion and makes people feel full. Carter-Williams tried it and was amazed.
“You’re not hungry,” he said. “Like, I actually have to set timers to make sure that I do eat, because otherwise you really forget to eat.”
Carter-Williams’ weight began to drop immediately and her cholesterol and blood sugar levels began to drop. He and his doctor were delighted. But almost as soon as he started seeing results, he ran into a problem.
“I was about to renew my dosage and I was like, ‘Oh, we don’t have this.'”
Carter-Williams started calling everyone, but the only pharmacy she could find that had any stock wouldn’t take her insurance (this is reportedly a common issue with the drug). So instead of costing him $25 a month, the Ozempic prescription costs $1,600 a month.
That’s when Carter-Williams realized Ozempic had a big moment.
“It was very popular,” he recalls. “It’s all over social media.” Carter-Williams couldn’t afford the high prices, so she was reluctant to go off the drug. The weight he had lost returned and his blood sugar and cholesterol began to climb.
“That was tough,” Carter-Williams said. “I mean, I wasn’t using it to try and fit into my Oscar dress. I really needed it for my health. But I went a while without getting it.”
Ozempic’s popularity comes at a price
Dr. Jorge Rodriguez is a gastroenterologist in LA. He knew about Ozempic for treating diabetes, but until about a year ago he had never heard of it being used for weight loss.
“I actually first heard about this use for Ozempic from a patient of mine who wanted me to prescribe it,” he says.
From that moment on, Rodriguez was asked to write prescriptions for the drug almost every week.
It’s legal for doctors to prescribe a drug like Ozempic for an unofficial use, but Rodriguez sees Ozempic’s popularity as a problem, especially since it can be really hard to find in many places and often isn’t. insurance coverage, meaning only. people who can afford to pay $1,600 a month can get it.
“I wouldn’t prescribe it for weight loss,” he says. “Using it in any other way restricts and harms the people who really benefit from it, which are diabetics.”
Rodriguez pointed out that Wegovy, another Novo Nordisk drug, has the same active ingredient as Ozempic and is FDA-approved for weight loss. However, he said, it is for people in a life-threatening situation and he would not prescribe it in other cases.
Psst … need Ozempic?
This is especially true because any weight loss has been reported to come back quickly if you don’t take Ozempic every week. That means people who start a prescription usually don’t stop taking it, even after they reach their desired weight.
Also, because supplies were low in some areas, people began to pay very high prices and go to extremes to get it, such as traveling to Canada and Mexico.
That wild demand also spawned a whole new crop of businesses.
A group of telehealth companies have cropped up that offer expensive monthly subscriptions to weight-loss services, which include access to Ozempic or a similar drug (although the drug is usually paid for separately).
One such service, Sequence, charging subscribers $100 per month. It was just bought by Weight Watchers for more than $100 million, a sign that the multibillion-dollar weight-loss industry is also getting into the Ozempic game.
Side effects include …?
Rodriguez said another concern of his revolves around health issues. He points out that Ozempic is a relatively new drug. Known side effects, such as severe nausea, dehydration and headaches, may not be the whole story.
Rodriguez points to fen-phen, a popular weight loss drug since the 1990s. “When fen-phen was available, almost everyone was there,” he recalls. “And one of the ‘phens’ is basically methamphetamine, which is, which is speed.”
Fen-phen has caused long-term health effects for some users, including serious heart problems.
However, Rodriguez says for patients with diabetes, Ozempic is actually a very promising drug.
“Absolutely life changing”
With the help of her doctor, Carter-Williams eventually managed to lock down a reliable supply of Ozempic, which was covered by insurance. And he saw what the fuss was about.
In the last 6 months, he has lost over 60 pounds.
“I can tell my body is working differently,” she said. “My blood pressure is better, my cholesterol is better. It really is life-changing.”
Carter-Williams says people have noticed her weight loss and often ask her what her secret is. And when he tells them it’s Ozempic? “They were like, oh my God, I’ve been trying to get that!” he said, laughing. “Can you tell me how you got it?”