Ozempicland
For good or ill, the infamous pharmaceutical has defined an era since it first made headlines in Hollywood three years ago. But as alarming tales pile up and medics question its use as a long-term weight-loss tool, we ask: is there any turning back?
On the surface, it seemed just like any interview with a camera-ready A-lister attempting to evade scandal. ‘Body positivity was all a big lie,’ said Heather Gay, the Real Housewives Of Salt Lake City star. The mother of three – mocked on screen for being the equivalent of a UK size 16 – had amassed a global fan base for embracing her curves. Yet, the 49-year-old recently made headlines after losing more than 2st, telling People magazine of pressure to get ‘on the Ozempic train’. Heather is referring to the medication, now known for rapid weight loss, that got its big break in Hollywood only three years ago.
Initially a type 2 diabetes drug with appetite-suppressing side effects, Ozempic – a brand name for semaglutide and now shorthand for a group of medications called GLP-1 and GIP receptor agonists – rose to infamy in some of California’s most exclusive postcodes. Rumblings emerged in long reads by Variety and The Guardian of the planet’s most well-connected using encrypted messaging apps to access sparse supplies from doctors willing to bend the rules. Before long, names of alleged celebrity fans – such as Kim Kardashian – were being floated online while others, like Elon Musk, were outing themselves. In 2022, a year after the medication got sign-off for weight loss from the FDA in the US, it received the same approval for weight loss from Nice and a limited run of Wegovy (the UK brand name for semaglutide) became available via NHS weight-management clinics.
Its popularity is such that Danish market leader, Novo Nordisk, is now valued at $570bn (£455bn); a sum bigger than Denmark’s economy. Research by JP Morgan estimates 9% of the US population will be taking one of these drugs by 2030, and experts believe a similar picture will emerge in the UK. While NHS stocks gradually ramp up, there’s been a boom in private prescriptions from online and highstreet pharmacies – including Boots and Superdrug, which have logged a 25% rise in demand since September.
But Ozempic’s story transcends medical circles. For good or ill, this pharmaceutical is defining an era. On TikTok, videos tagged ‘Ozempic’ have amassed 1.4bn views, where users share before-and-after updates and play detective about famous users, while ‘Ozempic face’ and ‘been to Oz’ are now part of the vernacular. But while you can buy weight-loss jabs from high-street pharmacies, healthcare industry watchers have their concerns, not least over the rise of a drug that reinforces the idea that there can be a silver bullet for weight
