LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Drugs aimed to reduce sugar in the body and manage type 2 diabetes are gaining more popularity.
It’s a growing trend to use semaglutide drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, or others to lose weight and now there’s a shortage because of the rising demand.
Just a year and a half ago, Elizabeth Ellison-Brown began injecting semaglutide intermittently.
“It is a wonderful tool. There’s a lot of misinformation about semaglutide. We do a lot of teaching about it because a lot of people have read and are afraid of losing muscle mass. They’re afraid of regaining their weight,” Ellison-Brown said.
It was around the same time she began working at the Medical Transformation Center in Louisville.
“I think any of us that have dealt with weight loss either personally or in taking care of patients know, there’s not a single thing, not a surgery, lotion, potion, medication that’s going to make people thin for life without lifestyle changes,” Ellison-Brown said.
Changes, Ellison-Brown said, like eating healthy and increasing activity. She emphasizes that it’s not a magic solution, but a tool to help reduce inflammation.
“The semaglutide gives you some metabolic benefit that some people really struggle to find without it,” Ellison-Brown said.
Whether it’s branded as Ozempic, Wegovy or Rybelsus tablets, the Food and Drug Administration describes these as all semaglutide drugs.
“But the active ingredient of these are all GLP-1 receptor agonists or GLP-GIP-receptor agonists,” said Dr. Carl Paige, with the Medical Transformation Center.
Dr. Paige said these drugs were initially designed for cognitive enhancement.
“They also have multiple pleiotropic impacts for cardiac health positively for fatty liver, you know, you know, brain health, as I mentioned. They as a side effect in the cognitive space can enhance the ability to have satiety, which means feel full, quicker and they tend to slow down to the GI tract so that, you know, things don’t move through quite as fast,” Dr. Paige said.
Since May 2023, the FDA has listed Ozempic and Wegovy on their drug shortages list.
“From a patient standpoint, you know, the demand is high for those medicines. They may have some access issues related to the ability to produce either the device or enough of the chemical in the prescribed device that you get from one of the large pharma companies and that has the supply is not kept up with demand. You know, from a basic economics standpoint,” Dr. Paige said.
Dr. Paige said he’s worked with these drugs for decades.
“I’ve been using GIP or GLP-1 class medicines, which is like semaglutide really since they came out in about 2005. That’s what a lot of people don’t recognize, is these medicines have been on the market for almost 20 years,” Dr. Paige said.
But, overall, his mission is about making the whole patient healthy.
“But it’s a comprehensive look at patients on all hormone levels, not just here’s your weight loss shot,” Dr. Paige said.
The American Journal of Medical Care said shortages are expected to persist into the next year.