Science- Semaglutide, sold under brand names Ozempic and Wegovy, is a game-changing diabetes and weight-loss drug.
- It also comes with side effects for some people, including a lack of interest in food.
Semaglutide, and its brand-name forms Ozempic and Wegovy, are being hailed as miracle drugs for type 2 diabetes and weight loss. The drugs, a new class of medications that mimic a hunger-regulating hormone called GLP-1, have exploded in popularity since people realized that they can make you feel full for longer by regulating hunger signals in the brain.
That's not all — evidence is mounting that these drugs could also be game changers for addiction, heart health, depression, and even cancer.
So, what's the catch? Well, they come with a host of side effects for some patients that range from uncontrollable diarrhea to being downright disgusted by food. And a scientist who helped create the drugs told science magazine Wired that these side effects might make it hard for patients to continue taking the drugs for more than a couple of years, which could lead to regaining weight.
Semaglutide might make life "miserably boring"
Many people get pleasure from eating — not just the taste of food, but also the social aspect of interacting with family and friends around the dinner table. When food cravings go away because of semaglutide, life can get much less enjoyable, one scientist said. Jens Juul Holst, a professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the University of Copenhagen in Denmark, has been involved with researching GLP-1 drugs since the 1970s. In an interview with Wired, Holst said that there's a "price to be paid" when taking semaglutide.
"Once you've been on this for a year or two, life is so miserably boring that you can't stand it any longer and have to go back to your old life," he told Wired.
A 2020 study found that 70% of patients who took GLP-1 drugs for type 2 diabetes stopped taking them within two years — though adherence to the drug hasn't been studied specifically for weight loss.
One reason, Holst hypothesized, is because of the lack of interest in food. But ultimately, he told Wired, "We don't know why people stop taking these drugs, but we know for a fact that they do stop."
Semaglutide needs to be taken long term to be effective
This is a problem because patients need to stay on semaglutide to sustain their weight loss. A 2022 study found that once patients stop taking the medication, they start gaining weight again.
This has led to some people taking smaller "maintenance doses" of the medications, though this has not yet been studied as an effective practice.
So while some doctors and insurance companies are concerned about a future where millions of Americans are on these drugs forever, Holst told Wired he doesn't think this is going to be an issue. "I don't see that a huge part of the population will be put on Wegovy and will stay on Wegovy for the rest of their lives," he said, "I simply don't see that picture, because this hasn't happened with other GLP-1 drugs."