On social media, the drug Ozempic has been touted as a weight-loss drug for some time. In fact, it’s so well-known that host Jimmy Kimmel made a joke about it during the past Oscars. “Looking around like that makes me wonder if I shouldn’t use Ozempic too,” he joked about sentiment in Hollywood that being thin is fashionable.
The popularity of the drug means that the drug is hardly available for diabetic patients. The Medicines Evaluation Board is concerned about this shortage. “Ozempic is a drug that is registered for type 2 diabetes,” says chairman Ton de Boer to Editie NL. “There are more and more reports of shortages, which is very annoying. Patients are set on such a drug. The manufacturer indicates that they cannot meet the demand for the drug.”
Overweight
However, the drug is also prescribed to people who do not have diabetes. For example, doctor Edo Aarst of the Allirion Clinic prescribes it for overweight people. “This medicine, in this form with this name, is indeed intended for diabetic patients,” he told Editie NL. “But the active substance it contains is intended for the treatment of overweight.”
And those people benefit greatly from this medicine, he says. “There is a large group of people who are in a gray area between what you can achieve with lifestyle changes and surgery. These people need a helping hand every now and then, which is why we prescribe this drug.”
According to him, there is currently enough Ozempic for all diabetes patients in the Netherlands. “In the summer there was a shortage, then we also received questions from diabetics whether we still had it in stock. During that period we did not prescribe it to our clients ourselves because it must be in proportion.”
Quick-fix
He does not simply prescribe the drug. “People also really have to adjust their lifestyle because it works as a ‘quick fix’, it gives you a feeling of satiety. But if you stop taking the medication, the hunger just comes back, so you really have to eat your change lifestyle.”
Yet he too is often asked to prescribe the drug to people who are not suitable for it. “You don’t want to know how many people I reject. It’s not suitable for people who just want to lose a few kilos, unfortunately we get that question too often. That’s because of the hype that has arisen on social media.”
Yet it is not the case that the drug is only scarce because of the TikTok hype. According to internist Arianne van Bon of the Rijnstate hospital in Arnhem, there is also a shortage of other weight loss products, which is why obese patients resort to Ozempic. “It’s not intended to be used as a weight-loss drug, but if someone is obese or diabetic, which disease is worse? I think that’s a very difficult ethical dilemma.”
Saxenda
Because the medicine for obese patients is also scarce. “In the Netherlands we have a registered weight-loss drug: Saxenda, but that hasn’t been readily available for some time. That’s why a brake has been put on it. People first have to adjust their lifestyle for a year, only if that doesn’t work are they allowed to take the drug Saxenda. use, but there are still a number of strict conditions. And the medicine is therefore not always available.”
She wants to emphasize that the drug is really for people with a BMI over 30. “I don’t condone the fact that people do it, but I can understand it from people who are seriously overweight. Of course we really disapprove of that movie star behavior.”
