‘You forget to eat’: how Ozempic went from diabetes drug to blockbuster diet drug

The Oscars: The moment when the most famous and glamorous of Hollywood gather to receive awards and show off their haute couture.

“They all look great,” commented host Jimmy Kimmel, walking across the stage a few weeks ago, looking at all the famous faces.

“When I look around this room, I can’t help but wonder: Is Ozempic right for me?”

There were some scattered chuckles, but it seemed like maybe the joke hit a little too close to home. After all, Ozempic has been called “Hollywood’s worst kept secret.”

“Hollywood’s Worst Kept Secret”

In recent months, Ozempic has burst onto the scene, with everyone from Elon Musk to Chelsea Handler talking about taking versions of the drug.

“My doctor…just gives it to anybody,” comedian Chelsea Handler said on a podcast.

But Ozempic’s rise to stardom wasn’t something most people predicted. In fact, the drug was created by Novo Nordisk to help diabetes patients control their blood sugar.

But the side effect of the rapid weight loss drug quickly stole the headlines and made Ozempic a very popular product. So hot that it caused some trouble for the people it was originally meant to help.

“I was willing to try anything”

Five years ago, ShantaQuilette Develle Carter-Williams had a health crisis. She had a stroke at age 39 and temporarily lost the use of the left side of her.

Carter-Williams is a comedian, writer and producer from Los Angeles and was unable to work at all after her stroke.

“I was eating and gaining weight and I was really worried that if I continue to maintain this weight the chances of having another stroke are very high.”

Her doctor suggested she try Ozempic to lower her blood sugar and also help her lose weight and prevent another stroke.

“I had never heard of Ozempic,” he recalls. “But, you know, he was willing to try anything.”

“Actually you forget to eat”

Ozempic and a similar drug, Wegovy, are weekly injections you give yourself that cause your body to produce insulin. Insulin lowers blood sugar, slows digestion, and makes people feel full. Carter-Williams tried it out and was amazed.

“You’re not hungry,” she says. “Like, I actually have to set timers to make sure I eat, because otherwise you actually forget to eat.”

Carter-Williams’ weight began to drop immediately, and his cholesterol and blood sugar levels began to drop. She and her doctor were delighted. But almost as soon as she started seeing results, she ran into trouble.

“I was going to renew my dose and they said, ‘Oh, we don’t have it.'”

Carter-Williams started calling everywhere, but the only pharmacy they could find that had something in stock wouldn’t take their insurance (apparently this is a common problem with the drug). So instead of costing him $25 a month, the Ozempic prescription was going to cost him $1,600 a month.

That’s when Carter-Williams realized that Ozempic was having a great time.

“I was so popular,” he recalls. “She was all over social media.” Carter-Williams could not afford the high price, so she reluctantly gave up the drug. The weight she had lost from her returned and her blood sugar and her cholesterol began to rise.

“That was difficult,” says Carter-Williams. “I mean, I wasn’t wearing it to try to fit into my Oscar dress. I really needed it for my health. But I went a while without getting it.”

Ozempic’s popularity comes at a price

Dr. Jorge Rodríguez is a gastroenterologist in Los Angeles. He knew of Ozempic for the treatment of diabetes, but until about a year ago he had never heard of its use for weight loss.

“I actually first heard about this use of Ozempic from a patient of mine who wanted me to prescribe it,” he says.

Since then, Rodríguez has been asked to write prescriptions for the drug almost every week.

It’s legal for doctors to prescribe a drug like Ozempic for off-label use, but Rodriguez sees Ozempic’s popularity as a problem, especially since it can be very hard to find in many places and insurance often doesn’t cover it, which means that only people who can afford $1,600 a month can get it.

“I won’t prescribe it for weight loss,” he says. “Using it otherwise restricts and harms the people who really benefit from it, which is diabetics.”

Rodriguez points out that Wegovy, another Novo Nordisk drug, has the same active ingredient as Ozempic and is FDA-approved for weight loss. Still, he says, it’s intended for people in a life-threatening situation and he won’t prescribe it otherwise.

Psst… need some Ozempic?

This is especially true because any weight lost reportedly comes back if you don’t take Ozempic every week. That means people who start on a prescription typically don’t stop taking it, even when they reach their desired weight.

Also, since supplies have been low in some places, people have started paying exorbitant prices and going to extremes to get it, like traveling to Canada and Mexico.

That wild demand has also sparked a new crop of business.

A slew of telehealth companies have sprung up offering expensive monthly subscriptions to weight-loss services, which include access to Ozempic or a similar drug (although the drug is usually paid for separately).

One of those services Sequence, charges subscribers $100 a month. Weight Watchers just bought him for more than $100 million, a sign that the multibillion-dollar weight-loss industry is getting into Ozempic’s game, too.

Side effects include…?

Rodríguez says that another concern he has revolves around health problems. He points out that Ozempic is a fairly new drug. Known side effects, such as extreme nausea, dehydration, and headaches, may not be the whole story.

Rodríguez points to fen-phen, a very popular weight-loss drug from the 1990s. “When fen-phen was available, almost everyone was taking it,” he recalls. “And one of the ‘phens’ is basically methamphetamine, which is, which is speed.”

Fen-phen caused long-term health effects in some users, including serious heart problems.

Still, says Rodríguez, for diabetic patients, Ozempic is indeed a very promising drug.

“It really changes your life”

With the help of his doctor, Carter-Williams was finally able to secure a reliable supply of Ozempic, covered by insurance. And she saw what the fuss was about.

In the past 6 months, you have lost over 60 pounds.

“I can tell that my body is working differently,” she says. “My blood pressure is better, my cholesterol is better. It really changes my life.”

Carter-Williams says people have noticed her weight loss and often ask her what her secret is. And when he tells them he’s Ozempic? “They’re like, oh my gosh, I’ve been trying to get that!” she says, laughing. “Can you tell me how you got it?”