2023-09-08 07:47:29
The Danish pharmaceutical laboratory Novo Nordisk is launching across the Channel the marketing of a drug derived from the antidiabetic drug Ozempic. This appetite suppressant can be used to fight obesity, but requires strict medical supervision.
A new hope for obese people? Semaglutide, also known as Wegovy, this drug derived from Ozempic, is currently experiencing dazzling success, particularly in the United States and the United Kingdom where it has been placed on the market. This drug, used by obese people to lose weight, arouses hope among many doctors, but is not without danger.
A new process to fight obesity
Presented in the form of an injection pencil, semaglutide works according to a simple principle: the molecule imitates an intestinal hormone usually produced following a meal, giving the impression of satiety to the person who consumes it.
This new process makes it possible to regulate the appetite of the person who ingests it, which can prove very useful in the fight once morest obesity.
“It is absolutely an expectation of the medical world to be able to prescribe them and to have drugs that are even more effective than what we have today,” greets Doctor Patrick Serog, a nutritionist, on BFMTV.
“Not a panacea”
However, the practitioner calls not to take the drug as a miracle molecule. “We must consider that this medication is not a panacea, because when you stop it, what happens? People start to feel hungry once more,” he recalls.
“We need to be able to manage this medication with a set of therapies,” he believes.
In fact, if semaglutide shows results and allows patients to lose an average of 12% of their weight following 68 weeks of treatment, according to several studies carried out in the United Kingdom, it is not enough in itself. British health authorities remind that it must be combined with a healthy and varied diet and physical activity, reports The Independant.
Dangerous diversions
Also watch out for abuse. Indeed, the drug contains the same active ingredient as Ozempic, an anti-diabetic manufactured by the same laboratory and misused by some to lose weight, a use that is nevertheless dangerous in people with a so-called normal figure.
“I think we need to implement specific monitoring of the product so that there is no diversion and that those who need it can have it,” calls the doctor.
“We just know the side effects of the product, but we do not know in the long term what the effects might be in someone who absolutely does not need it,” recalls Dr. Patrick Serog.
Booming sales
The Danish group Novo Nordisk, which produces its drugs, has seen its sales take off in recent months, particularly in the United States.
“Just this month (September) on the stock market, it reached $430 billion in capitalization. You should know that it has become the first European company on the stock market, well ahead of LVMH, the French luxury giant,” indicates Frédéric Bianchi, BFM Business journalist.
Authorized to be prescribed in the United Kingdom once morest obesity since March, semaglutide is however only authorized in France in hospitals, within a very strict framework. Health authorities assure that the drug will be closely monitored if it is placed on the market.
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