Ozempic, a diabetes drug, and its weight-loss counterpart, Wegovy, have been making a splash in headlines, the medical community and pop culture as the newest way to lose weight. Because of society’s complicated, and often dangerous, relationship with diet pills, some people are asking questions about the medications — whether they’re safe enough, if they’re even ethical to take and who should be using them in the first place.
The answers might depend on why you started taking them, and if you’re able to keep taking them. Injections of semaglutide (the ingredient in both drugs) are currently on the US Food and Drug Administration’s list of shortages. Compared to earlier drugs marketed for weight loss, Ozempic and Wegovy appear to be safer, despite common side effects like nausea and vomiting, said Dr. Christoph Buettner, professor of medicine and chief of the endocrinology division at the Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School. To read the full story.