Doctors declare Ozempic overrated as first long-term study shows patients retain only 10% of body weight after four YEARS of drug use

They’re heralded as “miracle drugs” and credited with sparking incredible weight-loss transformations in Hollywood.

But the first long-term study van Wegovy, the same type of drug as Ozempic, suggests that the drugs may not be as effective as the hype makes them seem.

After four years of taking the medication, which costs about $1,500 per month, patients lose only 10 percent of their original body weight.

For someone who is severely obese, that may not be enough. For example, someone who weighs 250 pounds would only lose 25 pounds while taking the drug for four years.

Dr. Shauna Levy, an obesity medicine specialist and bariatric surgeon at Tulane University who was not involved in the study, told DailyMail.com that a 10 percent reduction likely won’t be enough to protect someone from all the health problems associated with severe obesity . .

Wegovy, developed by the Danish Novo Nordisk, is a weekly injectable drug that leads to an average of 10 percent weight loss. So if you start taking the drug while you weigh 200 pounds, you will probably lose about 20 pounds.

“Anti-obesity drugs are not a silver bullet… These are drugs, they come with risks, they come with benefits, it’s not one size fits all,” she said.

She explained that for people who need serious weight loss, this data suggests that weight loss medications can only take you so far.

Older treatments, such as surgery, along with diet and exercise changes, may be better ways to approach weight loss.

With bariatric surgery, which surgically reduces the size of your stomach or intestines, people can lose between 20 and 50 percent of their original body weight, Dr. Levy added.

If your BMI is over 40, she said, you may need to consider these other weight loss options. Still, these medications can be helpful and have been “transformative” for people who previously thought weight loss was impossible, Dr. Levy said.

Dr. Shebani Sethi, clinical associate professor and founder and director of Metabolic Psychiatry, admitted that it may not be a miracle cure for obesity, but losing 10 percent of body weight could help improve people’s heart and brain health.

The new study was from Ozempic manufacturer Novo Nordisk and looked at 17,604 adults in 40 countries who were taking Wegovy, which is the same type of drug, only sold for weight loss rather than for treating diabetes.

The study was conducted in people with obesity and heart disease, and had people take the medication without making any other changes to their routine to approximate what an average user experience would be like, said Dr. Rekha H Kumar, an endocrinologist and the chief medical officer at Found , told DailyMail.com.

Wegovy and similar medications such as Mounjaro and Zepbound work by mimicking hormones in your body that tell you when you are full.

When you feel full for longer, you tend to eat less and lose weight.

They found that people lost an average of 10 percent of their original body weight after using Wegovy for a year and three months. Those who continued taking the drug over the next four years were able to maintain that weight loss.

Crucially, they did not continue to lose weight; they reached a plateau.

This happened for comedian Tracy Morgan, who actually started gaining weight on Ozempic as a result.

Sometimes, as in the case of TikTok user Shelly, the meds don’t work at all. She shared in a video in October that the medications did nothing but give her acid reflux.

Comedian Tracy Morgan, 55, hit a weight loss plateau and said he ate ‘Ozempic’ on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

The study also found that people taking Wegovy reduced their risk of heart attack and stroke by almost 20 percent.

This was to be expected, Dr. Sethi said.

‘Even a 10% weight loss can be very beneficial to health.’ said Dr. Sethi.

In her personal research, Dr. Sethi has found that small changes in weight loss from Ozempic can lead to improvements in mood and quality of life.

It is also common knowledge, she noted, that any amount of weight loss will reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke. People who have seen promises online that Ozempic would produce miraculous results may be disappointed to hear about the 10 percent average, Dr. Kumar said.

But even a five percent reduction in body weight can have enormous benefits for your health, she said.

‘I think (10 percent) is a number that indicates that people are getting healthier. It is an amount of weight loss that is difficult to achieve with diet and exercise alone. So it’s still a good result, but it’s certainly not the result that people mention, like miraculous weight loss,” Dr. Kumar said.

However, the cost of these drugs makes Dr. Sethi think that “the drugs are not going to be a cure-all for everyone.”

According to Novo Nordisk, the average price of Wegovy in the US without insurance is $1,350 per month.

Other options like Ozempic, Mounjaro and Zepbound are just as steep, costing $935, $1069 and $1,059 per month respectively.

Wegovy and Zepbound are not currently covered by many insurers in the US. Ozempic and Mounjaro may have more insurance options because they were originally approved to treat diabetes and not just prescribed for weight loss.

These new findings could be used as an argument for insurance companies to cover the drug because it helps prevent heart disease.

So, for example, if you weigh 400 pounds and use Wegovy for four years, you will lose 40 pounds and approximately $64,800.

For some people, that amount may be worth the results.

But for others, that economic toll and the limited benefits you’d get from losing 10 percent of your body weight may mean exploring other avenues, Dr. Levy told this website.

“I think it is important to discuss with your doctor whether the 10% sustainable weight loss is enough for the specific patient, or whether they should combine it with other treatment modalities, such as bariatric surgery,” she said.