Robbie Williams hilariously quips he’s ‘lost his a*se due to Ozempic’ after crediting his two stone weight loss to ‘something like’ the drug

Over the summer season I used to be fortunate sufficient to be invited to a sixtieth birthday at which the after-dinner leisure was a non-public efficiency by one of many UK’s main male pop stars. Extra eye-popping than the precise present, although, was how unbelievable mentioned star seemed. He was a mere shadow of his former self, prancing across the stage in a silver catsuit. His secret? Semaglutide, or Ozempic as it’s branded, a brand new weight loss plan drug that everyone – however everyone, darling, together with one of many world’s most well-known supermodels – is outwardly taking. 

Initially developed to deal with kind 2 diabetes, it’s used off-label (for a objective aside from that for which it was licensed) in each the US and the UK to deal with weight problems. In analysis carried out by its billionaire producer, the Danish-based pharmaceutical firm Novo Nordisk, sufferers misplaced a median of 17 per cent of their total physique weight over 68 weeks. This compares with 5 to 9 per cent for ‘oldschool’ anti-obesity medication resembling Metformin. 

Solely accessible within the UK on the NHS when you have kind 2 diabetes, Ozempic will be obtained via a non-public physician, and in case you are prepared to take it with out medical supervision – not really useful by medical doctors (see panel) – you will get it on-line via numerous weight-loss programmes. It’s generally taken in pill kind however extra generally as an injection. 

Predictably, Hollywood has been conscious of Ozempic for lots longer than us – Selection journal not too long ago quipped that the drug deserved its personal thank-you speech on the Emmys, as so many stars on the rostrum had clearly been taking it. Elon Musk raved about its extra highly effective sister drug, Wegovy, on Twitter; Kim Kardashian, it’s hotly rumoured, used semaglutide to lose 16lb with the intention to match into Marilyn Monroe’s gown for the Met Ball. On TikTok the hashtag #ozempic has had greater than 285 million views. 

Because of the hype, there was a surge in demand, inflicting shortages on either side of the Atlantic, with a backlash towards influencers and celebrities hogging provides forward of determined diabetes victims. Predictably, Large Pharma has provide you with another – tirzepatide (model title Mounjaro), manufactured by Eli Lilly – nevertheless it has but to be accredited by the US Meals & Drug Administration for weight reduction. 

Novo Nordisk has issued a press release to say its provides might be replenished by the tip of the yr, nevertheless it hasn’t quelled nervousness. At the very least two middle-aged male mates of mine who began utilizing it in September are getting themselves in a twist about being caught brief earlier than the vacations. As one personal London GP remarked to me: ‘It is just like the H RT panic final spring.’ 

So what precisely is that this drug? Semaglutide belongs to a category known as GLP-1 agonists, which not solely regulate blood sugar however, as was found a few decade in the past, additionally mimic the intestine hormones that regulate our appetites – those that inform the mind after we are hungry or full. There are, in fact, unintended effects: acid reflux disorder, nausea, exacerbation of IBS signs and fatigue (however a lot much less so than in earlier GLP-1 agonists resembling Saxenda), in addition to pancreatitis, gallstones and, in very excessive doses, it has induced thyroid tumours in rats. In the meantime, once you cease utilizing it the impact wears off instantly and in some instances it will not work in any respect. 

‘I might describe semaglutide for example of very good science,’ says main marketing consultant endocrinologist Dr Efthimia Karra from her personal follow off London’s Harley Avenue. ‘However it isn’t a panacea for everybody. Round a fifth of customers don’t reply to it. It is because the human physique favours weight achieve, thus once you shed pounds the physique will do something to revert to its highest BMI. The heavier you’re the tougher it’s to shed pounds. If a affected person has made no progress in three months, I’ll take them off it.’ 

Banker’s spouse Laura, a local New Yorker in her mid-50s who had hovered between a long time, began utilizing it in January. ‘The Paleo weight loss plan, 5:2, CBT, NLP, bootcamp, weight loss plan supply companies – I’ve tried all of them,’ she says from the household house in Hampshire, ‘and I’ve at all times yo-yoed proper again. After my final annual checkup I significantly contemplated giving up. Then my physician advised semaglutide.’ 

After solely a month she observed her garments had turn into looser. From then on, the burden began dropping off. ‘The unusual factor was, I wasn’t consuming something completely different. I simply could not bodily have seconds any extra, and the thought of pudding after a full meal had misplaced its attract.’ Three months on, she is 2 stone lighter ‒ although often she suffers heartburn if she eats too late at night time or drinks alcohol ‒ and after we spoke in autumn, she was wanting ahead to dropping one other stone by Christmas. 

‘There’s a niggling voice that tells me it’s each dangerous and lazy to take a drug to shed pounds, and I fear that it’s going to all pile on once more if I cease taking it. But when it does, I’ll significantly think about taking it indefinitely.’ 

Non-public London GP Dr Martin Galy has been prescribing semaglutide for a few yr to shoppers who can’t lose the burden they gained in menopause. He has seen it have a transformational impact, too, on a lot youthful girls who are suffering polycystic ovary syndrome. ‘PCOS victims are tough to deal with, and you’ll think about how physique picture performs an important half in terms of vanity.’ 

However in keeping with Tom Sanders, professor of diet and dietetics at King’s Faculty London, it isn’t a magic bullet. Commenting on a examine on semaglutide revealed in The New England Journal of Drugs in 2021, he says, ‘The problem post-weight loss is to forestall a regain in weight,’ he wrote. It could show to be helpful within the brief time period, however ‘public well being measures that encourage behavioural modifications resembling common bodily exercise and moderating dietary power consumption are nonetheless wanted’. 

That mentioned, given our rising nationwide weight problems statistics and the escalation in accompanying well being points resembling coronary heart failure, most cancers and obstructive sleep apnoea clogging up hospital beds, we’ll want one thing. Semaglutide stands out as the wealthy particular person’s drug in the present day, however may or not it’s accredited for extra widespread use? Solely time will inform.