On TikTok, the success of Ozempic, an antidiabetic drug hijacked for its weight loss properties, worries the medical community. Faced with the risk of side effects and tensions over the supply of the product, the National Medicines Agency (ANSM) has called doctors to order to respect the indication for diabetes when prescribing this injectable medicine.
According to AFP findings, the keyword #Ozempic has accumulated more than half a billion views on the Chinese platform, where many videographers testify to their experience with the drug. “I started Ozempic six weeks ago,” says an American tiktoker in a video viewed nearly 100,000 times. In leggings and a sports bra, the young woman, visibly much thinner than in her “before” photos, continues:
“I didn’t do any exercise, I just injected the product!”. Originally, Ozempic is indicated for “the treatment of insufficiently controlled type 2 diabetes” in adults, according to the Novo Nordisk laboratory, which has marketed it in France since 2019.
Its active ingredient is semaglutide, which acts by binding to receptors for a hormone involved in blood sugar control and stimulates the release of insulin when blood glucose levels are high.
Ozempic also has the characteristic of slowing stomach emptying and greatly reducing appetite, causing significant weight loss of up to 10% per year. This property has enabled the Novo Nordisk laboratory to obtain the marketing of semaglutide in many countries, including the United States, at a higher dose and under another name, Wegovy, to treat obesity.
In France, Wegovy received a favorable opinion from the High Authority for Health (HAS) in the treatment of obesity at the end of December. It is currently limited to very obese people with an associated disease.
Pending a decision from the authorities on its price and reimbursement, Wegovy is delivered in dribs and drabs, “unlike Ozempic which is available with a normal prescription”, explained to AFP Professor Jean-Luc Faillie, from Montpellier University.
Consequence: “Pharmacists have found prescriptions” of Ozempic for non-diabetic people as well as “falsified prescriptions, used by several people”.