In recent months, people magazines have been praising the suddenly refined silhouettes of Hollywood stars, such as Kim and Khloé Kadarshian. There is no miracle or rather if: a “miracle drug”, Ozempic. A tiktokeur, followed by more than 34,000 people, announces a loss of 40 kg in three months. Social networks are on fire. The comments are going well. But miracles, in medicine at least, do not exist. “This injectable treatment indeed promotes weight loss, but this is not its primary indication. It is an anti-diabetic that works by binding to glucagon-like peptide-1 hormone receptors (GLP-1) which has a role in blood sugar control, as it stimulates the release of insulin when blood glucose levels are high”, explains Dr. Nathalie Le Moullec.
The active molecule in Ozempic, semaglutide, has an effect on weight because it slows gastric emptying, which is not a bad thing for type 2 diabetics who are often overweight or obese. For non-diabetics looking to lose weight, this is not the right plan: “The effect is suspensive, this means that as soon as you stop the treatment, you regain the lost pounds”, specifies the doctor, who recalls that the prescription of a treatment against obesity, to be effective, must be accompanied by a follow-up course in order to modify the hygiene of life. What’s more, the treatment has its drawbacks: constipation which can be severe, disorders in the thyroid and gallbladder, and, more rarely, cases of pancreatic cancer.
Risk of out of stock
Reunion is not immune to the craze for this molecule, so much so that a report was made to the ARS. “This drug is increasingly prescribed on the island by off-label general practitioners, ie to patients who are not diabetic, and who are not even severely obese. This is of great concern to us because there are tensions on the stocks and the risk is that people with type 2 diabetes will no longer have access to this essential treatment for them, even if the risk is more limited here because of the stocks of two months that wholesale distributors must provide”, adds the director of the CSO.
Concern shared by Jean-François Thébaut, vice-president of the French Federation of Diabetics, who appealed to common sense and to stop misuse. “Manufacturers are not, for the moment, able to produce enough to meet demand. In Australia there has been a complete rupture. And this situation is dramatic for people with diabetes”, he explains.
This drug, not reimbursed off-label, costs around 250 euros per month, reimbursed only for type 2 diabetics.It is essential that it remains unsupported off-label. This is the best way to limit its misuse “, concludes Dr. Nathalie Le Moullec.
Mireille Legait
