On TikTok, this antidiabetic is all the rage for its weight loss properties and the #Ozempic peaks at more than 500 million views.
By JLB with AFP
© JOEL SAGET / AFP
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L’Ozempic, miracle cure? For several weeks, this antidiabetic has become the star of social networks because of its slimming properties. Many influencers praise its merits on TikTok, photos and videos of their transformation in support. A phenomenon that worries Health Insurance and the Medicines Safety Agency (ANSM), which, in a joint press release, announce that the drug will be subject to “reinforced surveillance”.
Ozempic has been marketed in France by the Novo Nordisk laboratory since 2019, on medical prescription only, in the treatment of insufficiently controlled type 2 diabetes. “Reports from the field show misuse in non-diabetics with the aim of weight loss”, indicate the ANSM and Health Insurance, recalling that its use must be reserved for diabetics.
They will strengthen surveillance by monitoring sales and reimbursement data from the national health data system (SNDS), reports of non-compliant use and reports of adverse effects to regional pharmacovigilance centres.
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Tensions over supply
According to the data cited by the ANSM, between October 2021 and October 2022, approximately 600,000 patients received a drug from the class of GLP-1 analogues, including 215,000 patients the specialty Ozempic. Among the latter, “2,185 beneficiaries of Ozempic can be considered as non-diabetics according to the estimates of Health Insurance”, she notes, thus estimating the misuse at around 1%.
“Limited” diversions according to the authorities, who are however concerned regarding the impact on the availability of the product for diabetic patients. Supply tensions have been noted by the ANSM and the laboratory, in particular due to an explosion in demand worldwide. Asked by Agence France-Presse (AFP) in February, Novo Nordisk admitted that its “current supply capacity does not always meet this excess demand” and lamented “intermittent availability and periodic stock-outs”.
Ozempic can also “lead to potentially serious adverse effects, such as gastrointestinal disorders, pancreatitis or hypoglycaemia”, warn health authorities. For the Pr Jean-Luc Faillie, in charge of the pharmacovigilance of the drug, the risks of semaglutide are “controlled” in view of the benefits in diabetes, but “there are always uncertainties, especially in obese patients in the long term”.
“If it is used to lose a few pounds, then the therapeutic benefit is zero, it’s just aesthetics while the risks are always present,” he warns.
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