What is Ozempic? – Check benefits and side effects of weight loss "wonder" drug popular among celebrities

Ozempic, which was originally developed to treat diabetes, is in high demand around the world, with celebrities and social media users hailing it as a weight-loss miracle. The delirium is now moving over to China, where being "wafer thin" is a beauty standard, causing shortages, according to media reports.

As per CNN, Chinese social networking apps like Douyin and Xiaohongshu have been filled with posts from users boasting about how they easily shed 10 or more pounds in a month with just a few injections of Ozempic, the brand name of semaglutide salt.

Ozempic uses

According to the claims made in a popular series of posts on a Chinese social app comparable to Instagram called Xiaohongshu, "This is a wonder drug" and "no diet, no exercise, you can reduce weight even when you are lying still." Ozempic was officially licenced for the treatment of type 2 diabetes in China in April 2021.

However, users can obtain it from doctors for other purposes or purchase it on e-commerce sites such as Taobao and JD.com with other people's prescriptions, according to CNN. 

Ozempic side effects

According to medical professionals, the medicine may have major side effects. Studies and patient testimony show that many patients regained their weight soon after discontinuing the injection. However, according to the state-owned People's Daily Health, due to Ozempic's popularity in China, many hospitals and drugstores have been out of stock since late last year. This has caused problems for diabetic people who rely on this medication. 

Last month, a doctor at Sun Yat-sen University's First Affiliated Hospital in the megacity of Guangzhou informed the official media that the hospital briefly ran out of Ozempic due to high demand from patients looking to lose weight. According to CNN, the hospital has since stopped administering the drug to those who do not have diabetes.

Ozempic weight loss

The social media excitement was so tremendous that Xiaohongshu initiated a crackdown in February and deleted more than 5,000 postings detailing weight reduction experiences using Ozempic. The social media site accused several posts of “exaggerating” the drug’s usefulness as a weight loss aid and urged its users not to “blindly believe” in such content.

Ozempic warning

The company also began a pop-up 'warning' telling people searching for the drug online to “go to formal medical facilities for treatment.” But it wasn’t enough to calm the storm. People in China, particularly women, have long faced pressure to conform to beauty standards that give importance to slender frames.

Ozempic dose, dosage, price 

With increased demand, prices have skyrocketed online. The official cost of a 1.5 mg Ozempic dose is 478 yuan ($67) in public hospitals, according to China’s National Reimbursement Drugs List. But prices for identical prescriptions currently range from 36% to 151% more on the online shopping site Taobao.

According to the drugmaker, Danish pharmaceutical business Novo Nordisk (NONOF), Ozempic reported sales of 303 million Danish kroner ($44 million) in China in the nine months after it began in April 2021. The next year, sales in the country climbed more than sevenfold, exceeding 2.2 billion Danish kroner ($316 million).

The Chinese weight loss medicine business is likely to increase in the coming years.

According to a government estimate from late 2020, more than half of all people in China were overweight, defined as having a body mass index (BMI) of more than 24.0.

According to a recent projection by Shanghai-based Tebon Securities, total sales of GLP-1 medicines, a kind of diabetes medication that includes semaglutide, might exceed 40 billion yuan ($5.6 billion) in China. It failed to offer a time frame. This would imply a 600% increase over the current market size.

According to the National Medical Products Administration, Novo Nordisk has applied to China's drug regulator to broaden the scope of use for semaglutide. According to its website, the regulator received the application on Saturday.

The application, according to the state media, would be for weight loss. The pharmaceutical company has not responded to CNN's request for comment.