The celebrity panacea for weight loss: Health authorities warn about fake Ozempic

Criminals are seizing on the popular weight loss drug Ozempic to make some money. Health authorities around the world are now warning to look out for counterfeit medications. In Austria, several people were hospitalized.

In Late December, the United States regulator FDA said it seized thousands of fake products and warned consumers not to use any drugs bought outside of official sources. The FDA reported fice averse effects from the lot. In November, the FDA was investigating two deaths from black market Ozempic.

One of the victims of a scam was Vikki Ryan, who told Kennedy News and Media that she took fake Ozempic to get skinny before her wedding. She said once she injected the drug she bought online, she became extremely unwell and couldn't stop vomiting. “I still don’t feel right,” she said. “I still can’t eat anything and feel sick all the time. I feel dehydrated constantly. I’m always thirsty. I only eat once a day because everything makes me feel ill.”

Image: vikkiryan1985/Instagram

In a culture where thin bodies are idealized, it’s little surprise that celebrities and others are spending money or resorting to fakes to lose weight. Besides the potential troubling side effects of even the real injection, another major problem is that it’s also a life-saving diabetes medication... and there isn’t enough to go around.

In an op-ed in the Daily Mail, American celebrity Meghan McCain says that just four weeks after giving birth, people were urging her to take Ozempic to shed some pounds. They're calling it a "miracle," saying "everyone's on it" and offering black market shots, she wrote, but questioned the drug's health effects and the need to be swim-suit ready at all times.

"In maybe the sickest twist in this story, diabetes sufferers are now struggling to find the potentially life-saving drug, because otherwise healthy people are using it to lose a few pounds. You can't get more Hollywood than that," McCain continued, adding. "Do we so soon forget that amphetamines were once widely seen as an acceptable weight loss drug?"

On a podcast, the comedian came clean about her Ozempic experience, saying her "anti-aging doctor just hands it out to anybody and said 'if you ever want to drop five pounds this is good." So, she injected herself with the drug without even realizing it was Ozempic.

After taking it, she noticed she didn't have the urge to eat and was feeling a little nauseous, but thought maybe it was because of her jet lag. Then, after telling her friend, she realized she was on Ozempic and quit. "I'm an irresponsible drug user, but I'm not gonna take a diabetic drug," she said.

Even though Handler quit, she said it was still incredibly popular in Hollywood. "Everyone is on Ozempic. It's gonna backfire, something bad is gonna happen," she said, adding she's injected four or five of her friends with the drug.

Ozempic is proven to improve blood sugar in adults with type 2 diabetes. In diabetic adults with heart disease, it also reduces the risk of stroke, heart attack and death. Given these benefits, doctors around the world have been prescribing the drug to diabetics since it was approved around five years ago.

Ozempic is advertised regularly on American TV for its value as a diabetes medication, with the theme song changing the words to the 1974 song by Pilot that originally goes: “Oh-Oh-Oh it’s Magic” to “Oh-Oh-Oh-Ozempic.”

Image: Screenshot from Ozempic commercial ™ via Youtube, Ozempic TM

After hailing the benefits for diabetes, the commercial goes on to say: “you may lose weight, in the same one year study, adults lost on average up to 12 pounds.” At the same time, words on the screen specifically say “Ozempic is not a weight loss drug.”

Image: Screenshot from Ozempic commercial / via Youtube, Ozempic TM

According to the drug’s website, Ozempic may cause serious side effects, including possible thyroid tumors, including cancer, pancreatitis, changes in vision, low blood sugar, kidney problems (kidney failure), allergic reactions, and gallbladder problems.

Image: Screenshot from Ozempic commercial / Youtube, Ozempic TM

More common side effects include nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach (abdominal) pain, and constipation. Those effects are part of the weight loss aspect but “can be so bad that people have to go to the ER,” Dr. Andrew Kraftson told the New York Times, adding that patients should be monitored when taking these drugs.

Image: @eat.my.cake / TikTok

The Guardian and Variety both published articles calling the drug “Hollywood’s worst kept secret” and quoted Hollywood-based experts saying “everyone is on it.”

According to the Toronto Star and TikTok, internet users are convinced that some of the most dramatic recent weight loss transformations are thanks to weekly Ozempic injections. These include Kim Kardashian’s before she squeezed into the Marilyn Monroe dress, as well as the weight loss of Mindy Kaling, Oprah, Adele, and Rebel Wilson.

Image: realdrbae / TikTok

In the US, doctors say the injections cost around $1,000 per month. In other countries, it may be cheaper. While insurance tends to cover it for diabetes treatment, people using it for weight loss usually end up paying out of pocket.

In October, someone complimented Elon Musk on his weight loss on Twitter and asked him his secret. He replied saying “Fasting and Wegovy,” with Wegovy being a version of Ozempic approved to treat obesity or overweight people with at least one weight-related health condition in 2021. That drug sold like hotcakes, triggering a shortage, so some doctors began prescribing Ozempic instead.

In November, he talked about his weight loss again, saying he lost 30lbs thanks to “Fasting + Ozempic/Wegovy + no tasty food near me.” One user said he takes that for his diabetes but that the drug gives him “nasty burps” that taste “like rotten eggs.” He asked Musk if he had the same side effect, and the Twitter boss responded: “Yeah, next level.”

Image: Twitter

With celebrity rumors, media attention, and some doctors pushing it, word of the “miracle” weight loss drug quickly spread on social media. The TikTok tag #oxempic has 417 million views and the hashtag #ozempicjourney was full of people documenting their weight loss using the drug.

Image: kpage1508 / TikTok

The medication works by binding to GLP-1 receptors, stimulating insulin release from the pancreas when needed. It also reduces the amount of sugar released by the liver and slows down food from leaving your stomach, preventing blood sugar spikes. It can also reduce appetite. It is injected once per week.

Image: millennialrandom / TikTok

Doctors explained to the Guardian that people taking the drug for weight loss say the drug can make foods or even liquids repulsive, like “A Clockwork Orange for junk food,” referring to the classic literary scene where a criminal was trained to feel disgust and nausea when thinking about crimes or violence. Some people using the drug lament the fact that they can’t enjoy food like they used to.

Image: Screenshot from A Clockwork Orange Trailer/ Youtube/ Warner Bros. Entertainment

Indeed, the manufacturer of the drug says that eating bland, low-fat foods like crackers, toast and rice help with nausea, as does avoiding friend, greasy or sweet floods. It also recommends “foods that contain water like soups and gelatin” and drinking “clear or ice-cold drinks.”

Image: allyshaps / TikTok

Endocrinologist Dr. Disha Narang said some doctors have begun prescribing Ozempic off-label for weight loss, while she’s seen other patients “who have somehow gotten their hand on” the drug. It is believed that the drug can be bought online or from countries with more lax prescription laws like Mexico.

While the shortages began in 2022, experts suggest that the scarcity of the drugs won't end anytime soon. The UK's Department of Health and Social Care has recommended that no new patients are started on the drug. Intermittent Ozempic shortages are expected throughout 2024, according to the European Medicines Agency (EMA).

Diabetes patients around the world have had to switch to other medications due to the shortage. “It really makes me mad; it infuriates me,” Shane Antony told NBC, explaining how his blood sugar levels have shot up since he had to stop taking Ozempic in October. “We need it to stay alive and keep functioning on an everyday basis.”

Besides the devastating consequence for diabetes patients, the drug also has other unwanted side effects for those using it for weight loss. One of those is rebound weight gain. A 2022 study found that people who had stopped taking the drug had regained two-thirds of the weight they lost a year later.

Image: Screenshot from Ozempic commercial / Youtube, Ozempic TM

On the podcast ‘Not Skinny But Not Fat’ content creator Remi Bader shared her experience with the drug. She said once she stopped taking Ozempic, her “bingeing got so much worse” and said the doctors blamed the drug for her having “gained double the weight back.”

Photo: ramibader / Instagram

Hollywood nutritionist Matt Mahowald told the Guardian that drugs like these can also distract from tackling bigger problems related to the typical American diet, such as highly processed food and the difficulties and expense of getting healthy food.

Mahowald added that by severely restricting calories, some healthy people using the drug may not be taking in the right level of calories and nutrition to be able to exercise intensely and build up muscle. This can have consequences for long-term health.

Ozempic has been studied and approved for diabetes, but not weight loss. Wegovy has only been studied to treat obesity and overweight people with weight-related medical conditions. “These drugs were not designed for normal-weight people who want to get down to be super thin,” Dr. Janice Jin Hwang told the New York Times.

Given that there haven’t been proper studies and that some people are taking the medication without medical supervision, injecting the drug is considered a risky behavior. “I don’t want to see people playing roulette with their health,” said Dr. Kraftson.

Photo: Free Walking Tour Salzburg / Unsplash

In a twist on the biggest medical stories of the year, EU regulators recently launched an investigation into Hollywood's new favorite weight loss drugs. Why are drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy now facing a probe? Because Icelandic authorities reported a wave of self-injury and thoughts about taking one's life in users of the medications. They are analyzing around 150 cases.

The European Medicines Agency said in a statement that thoughts of taking one's life or self injury are not listed as a side effects. Around 20 million take this type of medicine every year.

One study found this type of medicine can be safely taken for up to 68 weeks, but there isn't a long-term study given the innovative nature of the drug. History shows that some drugs approved for weight loss like amphetamine, diuretics, the fen-phen and digitalis caused more harm than good. At one point, even tape worms were marketed to help stay thin.

Image: U.S. Food and Drug Administration - Weight-Loss Ad (FDA 154) / Wikimedia

While some health risks can come with obesity, health is much more than the number on the scale. Doctors suggest that people who aren’t prescribed the drug should focus on eating healthy and getting exercise to increase the quality of their life and their health, as opposed to taking unstainable “miracle drugs" to lose weight. If anyone does believe they need a drug to help lose weight and improve health, they are always recommended to talk to their doctor first.