Ozempic or Wegovy can be a godsend, but their non-medical use is alarming | Devi Sridhar

Semaglutides are powerful drugs that carry risks, not tools for rapid weight loss

Since anti-obesity drugs such as semaglutide (branded as Ozempic or Wegovy) have been approved, they have gone from being niche medicines prescribed by doctors to treat people with type 2 diabetes, to being used widely as weight-loss tools. In the United States, a survey of adults found that 12% had taken Ozempic or a similar type of medicine - they are known as GLP-1 agonists - and 6% (about 15 million people) were on it regularly. This was in spite of the monthly cost of the medicine, which is almost $1,000 for those without insurance.

In the UK, Ozempic-like drugs have been prescribed on the NHS (free of cost) to people with type 2 diabetes, or when the drug has been deemed medically necessary. Yet just like in the US, the sales of British online retailers including pharmacies and beauty companies have boomed, as they have offered the weekly injection solution to those wanting to shed excess weight, at prices as low as about 72 ($92) a month. The consequence is that too many people (including those whose weight doesn't present any health risks) are taking the drug who don't need it. In many cases they don't understand how it works in the body, or its side effects. An A&E doctor recently warned that young women are presenting with potentially deadly complications from using the drug to achieve weight loss.

Prof Devi Sridhar is chair of global public health at the University of Edinburgh