Ozempic to Mounjaro - what are the weight loss injections and what were they designed to do?
The weight loss caused by these weekly injectables is rapid and previously unattainable, people boast, showing off newly svelte bodies.
But what are these drugs, how do they work - and what were they originally designed to do?
Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro - what are they?
Let's start with the most well-known of the trio: Ozempic.
Ozempic blew up in 2022 - if media reports from the US were to be believed, every pound dropped in LA was probably thanks to the "miracle" injectable drug.
What started as the preserve of A-listers and the Hollywood elite quickly grew in popularity.
The drug's generic name is semaglutide. This is the same as Wegovy, which has been licensed as a weight loss drug in the UK and is now available on the NHS.
Wegovy has a slightly higher dosage and is designed for weight loss, while Ozempic's primary purpose was as a diabetes treatment (more on that later).
Mounjaro - also known by its generic name tirzepatide - is the newer kid on the block.
Like Ozempic and Wegovy, it suppresses the appetite and lengthens the amount of time food stays in the stomach, leading to weight loss - at least for as long as you carry on taking it.
In 2022, the US Food and Drink Administration (FDA) fast-tracked approval of the drug to treat obesity after a study showed it helped people lose more than 20% of their bodyweight.
Mounjaro was supposed to be available through GP surgeries and other community services in the UK from 23 June.
But at the start of August, Sky News research revealed only eight of 42 NHS Integrated Care Boards (ICBs) in England had started providing treatment to patients, and many of the rest unable to guarantee when it would be available.
3:31
From diabetes drug to diet pill
Ozempic and Mounjaro were both developed as treatments for type 2 diabetes.
The drugs, which come as weekly injections, lower blood sugar by increasing insulin production when your blood sugar is rising and helping prevent your liver making and releasing too much sugar.
So how do they cause weight loss?
Both semaglutide and tirzepatide work by mimicking the hormone, GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide one), to manage hunger and slow down digestion.
Tirzepatide - Mounjaro - is a dual-acting drug and also mimics the hormone GIP (glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide).
In terms of weight loss, in clinical trials people lost up to 20% of their body weight on tirzepatide and 15% on semaglutide.
Researchers have also found the weight loss jabs could reduce the risk of heart attacks, strokes or heart failure in obese people regardless of the amount of weight they lose.
They sound like miracle drugs for people wanting to lose weight - what's the catch?
There are a few downsides. First off, the listed side effects: nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea, bad enough for about 5% of people in the semaglutide trial to stop taking it and 6-7% in the tirzepatide trial.
People in the semaglutide trial also experienced problems with gallstones.
The drugs also carry serious risks including kidney failure, pancreatitis and thyroid cancer.
Another downside has been dubbed "Ozempic face". Facial ageing is a side effect of sudden weight loss as people find the skin on their face sagging where once it was plump.
The drugs also only work for as long as you carry on taking them, and people have reported gaining back all the weight they lost after stopping the drug - either out of choice or because of a supply shortage.
In August, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) - the body that provides guidance on the use of new drugs - said that people coming off the drugs should be offered "structured advice and follow-up support" to help prevent weight gain.
This includes being monitored by the NHS for at least a year after completing treatment and support to help build "long-term behavioural habits, use self-monitoring tools, and draw on wider support - from online communities to family-led interventions and local activities".
Shortages for diabetics
Perhaps a bigger conversation than side effects for individuals is around the impact on people who rely on these treatments, now they've exploded in popularity as a weight loss quick-fix.
While intended for diabetics, Ozempic and Mounjaro are prescribed "off-label" in the US to people wanting to shed weight.
The drugs faced widespread shortage last year, with reports of diabetics having to drive from pharmacy to pharmacy in search of stock because of the high demand.
Links to cancer prevention
Research has suggested weight loss jabs, officially GLP-1 receptor agonists, could almost halve the risk of obesity-related cancers.
The study, published in the journal eClinicalMedicine, was presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Malaga.
It found that there were similar rates of obesity -related cancer among patients treated with the injections and those given weight loss, or bariatric, surgery.
Dr Yael Wolff Sagy, the study's co-lead author from Clalit Health Services in Tel-Aviv, Israel, said a "direct effect" of the injections was that they were found "to be 41% more effective at preventing obesity-related cancer".
"We do not yet fully understand how GLP-1s work," she said. "But this study adds to the growing evidence showing that weight loss alone cannot completely account for the metabolic, anti-cancer, and many other benefits that these medications provide."
Co-lead Professor Dror Dicker, from Hasharon Hospital, Rabin Medical Centre in Israel, suggested the protective effects of the drugs "likely arise from multiple mechanisms, including reducing inflammation".
He added further research was needed "to make sure that these drugs do not increase the risk for non-obesity-related cancers".
Being overweight or obese is the second biggest cause of cancer in the UK, causing more than one in 20 cancer cases, according to the NHS.
Are they available in the UK?
An estimated 1.5 million people are taking weight loss jabs in the UK, the vast majority of whom pay for them privately.
Ozempic is available in the UK for type 2 diabetes patients with a prescription.
Wegovy and Mounjaro is available to NHS patients, but only through specialist weight management services.
Over the next three years, around 240,000 people with the "greatest need" are expected to receive Mounjaro through the NHS.
However, Sky News research into Wegovy and Mounjaro shows delays in the rollout of both weight loss jabs.
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11 minutes ago
- Reuters
Novo Nordisk expands lawsuits against weight-loss drug compounders
Aug 5 (Reuters) - Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk ( opens new tab said on Tuesday it has filed 14 new lawsuits in the United States against the sale of unapproved versions of semaglutide, the main ingredient in its popular weight-loss and diabetes drugs, Wegovy and Ozempic. The new lawsuits target pharmacies and telehealth companies producing compounded versions of semaglutide "under the fake guise of personalization", Novo said, without naming the companies. Shares of major telehealth firm Hims & Hers (HIMS.N), opens new tab extended losses to fall nearly 13% in afternoon trade. It had earlier reported weaker-than-expected quarterly revenue. A Reuters search of legal filings found some cases filed by Novo in California dated Aug. 4 but none regarding San Francisco-based Hims. Hims was not immediately available for comment. Compounders copy brand-name medicines that are in short supply by combining, mixing or altering drug ingredients to meet demand. These companies were briefly allowed to produce hundreds of thousands of compounded doses of Novo's obesity and diabetes drugs when the Food and Drug Administration said they were in short supply. When the agency later banned the sale of these copies, Hims and Hers shifted to creating versions of semaglutide in personalized doses not accessible through the branded manufacturers. Novo's lawsuits allege that telehealth providers violate state corporate practice of medicine laws by improperly influencing doctors' decisions and steering patients toward knockoff compounded "semaglutide" under the guise of personalized medicine. In reality, these are knockoffs that have not been approved as safe and effective and are often made with illicit foreign active pharmaceutical ingredients (API), Novo said. It did not immediately respond to a Reuters query on which companies were being named in the lawsuit.
Scottish Sun
40 minutes ago
- Scottish Sun
Fat jabs are a nightmare for anorexics – I'll never get over my girl Nikki's death but I'd worry if she was still here
Sue Grahame makes a stark warning four years on from her beloved daughter's death, and recalls Big Brother star Nikki's tragic last days in unbearable pain and unable to bathe or dress herself DYING TO BE THIN Fat jabs are a nightmare for anorexics – I'll never get over my girl Nikki's death but I'd worry if she was still here Click to share on X/Twitter (Opens in new window) Click to share on Facebook (Opens in new window) NIKKI Grahame was just seven years old when her mum said she came home from gymnastics club upset because another child had said her bum looked big in her leotard. That one tiny comment sparked the beginnings of an eating disorder in Nikki, which would see her spend the next decade in more than 18 different institutions, including two-and-a-half years in Great Ormond Street Hospital. Sign up for Scottish Sun newsletter Sign up 16 Nikki Grahame shot to fame on Big Brother in 2006 Credit: Getty 16 Nikki with mum Sue Grahame before her 2021 death from anorexia Credit: David Cummings 16 Sue said she'll never get over the loss of her 'darling Nikki' Credit: David Cummings When she shot to fame on Big Brother in 2006, fans had no idea that behind her iconic diary chair meltdowns was a lifelong struggle with anorexia so severe that even the most experienced doctors described it as "the worst they'd ever seen." Now in a raw and emotional interview, Nikki's devoted mum Sue relives her gruelling journey with anorexia and recalls the last days before her tragic death from the disease, aged just 38. And she warns against the use of skinny jabs such as Ozempic or Mounjaro by people who are already slim - saying it could trigger or worsen eating disorders. 'Worst they'd ever seen' "I think these jabs are a nightmare for people with eating disorders because they are already skinny and it means they can restrict their food even more," Sue, now 71, told The Sun. "It would have been a worry for me while Nikki was alive. I don't know if Nikki would have taken them or not. She was already limiting her calories every single day, that was a huge part of her life. "I wouldn't have let her take the jabs, I'd have said, 'over my dead body'. "For people like Nikki, everything is counted, measured and weighed; it becomes their whole life. She would weigh herself before breakfast and again after each meal. It's constant. "To me, it's a short-term fix, to get an injection, because you need an education on how to look after your body, how to nurture it, how to nourish it. And just getting an injection, that's not going to change your ways, is it?" When shown examples of "thinspiration' content which can be found on social media sites such as TikTok, where influencers post images of ultra thin women and what they eat, Sue was shocked. 'Nikki used to go on sites like this and look at this kind of thing," she said. Nikki Grahame goes mad in Big Brother house in emotional scenes in new documentary 'I know when I've walked into the room and she suddenly turned her phone off. 'Back then there were lots of websites about how to be as thin as you can. These people should be bloody locked up. It's disgusting. 'People should be locked up' 'I can honestly say I've never been on a diet. Never. And so it wasn't something Nikki learned from me." Sue said the first signs of Nikki's anorexia came when she was seven and she suddenly stopped eating and became withdrawn. 'There was the comment from the girl in gymnastics and she started to become withdrawn, that was the first sign," Sue said. "She started to get smaller and very picky with her food, so the alarm bells started to ring. 'I took her to the GP and he stood her in front of him and he asked her what she had eaten today. Of course she lied to him. 'She was so young, doctors refused to believe there was anything wrong with her." 16 Nikki became known for her meltdowns and tantrums in the diary room Credit: Rex 16 Nikki was just seven when she started suffering from anorexia Credit: David Cummings 16 Nikki on the balcony of the London flat where she died age 38 Credit: David Cummings Sue remembers being fobbed off by doctors until one day, Nikki was so weak she couldn't stand, and she carried her into the GP surgery where she refused to move until they admitted her daughter to hospital. "I didn't want her to be admitted to hospital but I couldn't get her to eat anything, she'd trick me," Sue said. 'It got to the point where I had to make her eat naked so she wouldn't stuff food in her knickers or anything. 'Because it started so young, by the time Nikki became an adult it was so engrained for her. Her purpose, her way of life, was to stay as thin as possible. 'She was very competitive about it. She'd walk on to a ward and want to be the skinniest anorexic in there. I would despair. 'When she was in Great Ormond Street, she had this wonderful doctor Professor Bryan Lask and he said 'You're not the worst I've ever seen Nikki, you are by far the worst I've ever seen' - and he travelled the world lecturing on anorexia." 'Don't leave me mummy' Sue recalls the heartbreaking day she left seven-year-old Nikki as an inpatient in hospital for the first time. 'She kept saying 'Mummy don't leave' and I said, 'Nikki I don't have a choice because you won't eat for me'," Sue said. 'Then they said, 'You can't see or speak to her for two weeks'. I said no, but they insisted. 'As we were leaving Nikki was screaming and these people just came from nowhere and pinned her down on the floor while we were rushed out of the unit. It was hell on earth, it was unnecessarily cruel." Sadly, Nikki did not improve. She refused to eat and became so thin nurses would have to force her to eat through a nasal tube. 'It got to the point where I had to make her eat naked so she wouldn't stuff food in her knickers or anything Sue Grahame Later on, she had to have a tube fitted surgically direct to her stomach as she kept pulling the nasal tube out, but that didn't work either as she pulled the tube out of her body. Sometimes she'd be sedated for a month at a time, as doctors desperately tried to increase her BMI with forced feeds. Sue said it some of the treatments were so "cruel" it was "gut-wrenching". 'The whole system of trying to treat anorexics it doesn't work," Sue said. 'I've been to all those units and some of them are pitiful. 16 Nikki spent most of her life from age 7 to 18 in and out of eating disorder units Credit: David Cummings 16 Nikki before she entered the Big Brother house Credit: David Cummings 16 Nikki's anorexia worsened during Covid Credit: Splash 'In my mind none of them delivered for Nikki, it just strengthened her resolve. 'There was one place that I'd have to bring her back to after a weekend visit home or something, and she'd lie on the floor and beat her hands and feet and scream and cry and say 'Mum don't leave me here, please don't leave me!' 'But I didn't have a choice because she wouldn't eat for me, what was I supposed to do? 'Barbaric' treatments 'There was one place where they'd melt Mars bars down and make them set the table until it was gone and if they didn't finish it they'd have to sleep on the kitchen floor. "At one point she was put her under for a month to be tube fed. So I just used to go and sit by her bed and talk to her and hold her hand. 'She'd wake up and say 'I can feel all that food inside of me - I can't take it mum, it's torture'. 'Staff weren't always very kind. A lot of things I could accept if it was making a difference but it wasn't. 'It was very barbaric and cruelty just doesn't work." Nikki's admissions to hospital stopped when she reached 18, but her struggles with anorexia continued and she also developed severe OCD behaviour around hygiene and preparing food. Sue said she was supportive of Nikki entering Big Brother because she was pleased to see her having some fun after the "hell" she'd been through as a child, however she did worry about how she'd cope with her eating disorder in such an environment. 'Going on Big Brother was great for her, it did give her a taste of a normal life, but obviously those demons were always there," she said. Because it started so young, by the time Nikki became an adult it was so engrained for her. Her purpose, her way of life, was to stay as thin as possible Sue Grahame "When she got a call to say she had been chosen she started jumping around saying, 'I'm in, I'm going into Big Brother!' 'I was pleased for her but worried because at the time she couldn't eat in front of people and she wouldn't allow people to cook for her. 'I couldn't even cook for her because it she had this OCD as part of her illness and she became obsessed with hygiene. 'She had to clean her own plates before she'd eat on them, she had lots of rules. "That was the thing that worried me. But I just thought you know she's been in hospital from age seven til 18. Give the girl a bloody break. She had no life up to that point. 'This is why she used to have hissy fits in the Big Brother house because she learned in these units that if you shouted the loudest you'd get attention. "I used to watch her on the live stream and I could see she was having fun but I also knew when the s**t was going to hit the fan. I could predict it when she was heading for a meltdown. I'd think 'Christ here we go' and all of a sudden she'd let rip." 16 Nikki won a National TV Award for her appearance on Big Brother in 2006 Credit: Rex 16 Mum Sue with Nikki as a baby Credit: David Cummings 16 Sue said she vowed to always support Nikki through her illness Credit: David Cummings After Big Brother, Nikki enjoyed the fame the show brought and would travel the country doing appearances, even landing herself a magazine column. She entered the Big Brother house a total of five times, including the Canadian version. When TV work dried up, she moved to Nice, France where she worked in a Hard Rock Cafe branch, and learnt to speak French. After moving back to London, she went back to college to try and get her Maths and English GCSE and got a job in a local junior school as a teaching assistant. Sue said that in the years after Big Brother "she held her own" in her battle against anorexia, but Covid exacerbated her condition. Nikki would walk on to a ward and want to be the skinniest anorexic in there. I would despair Sue Grahame 'She had a flat with a gym so she wouldn't come and stay with me during Covid, but then they closed the gym and so she spent £900 on a cross trainer," Sue said. 'I used to illegally drive up to London because she was so isolated. 'And while I was there she'd get on this cross trainer obsessively and I'd beg her to stop. I'd say, 'I don't want to lose you' and she'd say 'I'm not going anywhere. I said, 'Yeah that's what Karen Carpenter said'. 'Covid definitely didn't help Nikki, but I can't help feeling she'd already thrown the towel in. 'Because for months before, we'd be walking. I'd turn around, she'd be on the floor. Her legs would just gave way. 'Her body was packing up. She had been starved for so long. She never even had periods. "I don't think she was ever meant to make old bones in this world." 16 Big Brother gave Nikki the chance to travel the country doing PAs and writing magazine columns Credit: PA 16 Nikki with her friend Imogen Thomas Credit: INSTAGRAM/IMOGEN THOMAS 16 Mum Sue was pleased to see Nikki enjoy life after her difficult childhood Credit: David Cummings 16 Sue said life has been tough since Nikki's death but she's trying hard to heal Credit: David Cummings In the weeks before her death, both Sue and social services tried to encourage Nikki to become an inpatient again but she refused. Instead she decided to travel to her mum's in Dorset, stopping on the way at a pharmacy to pick up her meds. 'She was only 10 minutes away when she passed out in the pharmacy, hit her head on the floor and they had to blue light her in to Dorchester hospital," Sue said. 'She was in there for two weeks and I went in every day for the two weeks because it was just a regular ward, not an eating disorder unit and I wanted to take the weight off of the nurses because she needed supervising. 'If they brought her food, it would either go down the toilet or in the bin or out the window. 'I moved into a Premier Inn so that I could just walk there each day and I used to shower her and and watch her eat her meals. 'The mental health team said there was an eating disorders unit but it only had six beds and they were full. That might have made the difference. I have never been loved as much as Nikki loved me Sue Grahame 'The nurses at the hospital were quite aggressive with her. Maybe they resented her. No one ever has any patience for anorexics. 'Her BMI was dangerously low. She was just skin and bones. She was pitiful to look at. "Then this nurse came in and said 'This isn't the place for you. This is a surgical ward. Nikki if you can walk up and down those steps outside there you can go home tomorrow. 'And I looked at her and the state Nikki was in and I couldn't believe it." Final journey Nikki was discharged from hospital later that day alone and took a taxi to her flat in London. 'She rang me from the taxi and said 'Hi Mum, I'm on my way home'. She was so weak, I couldn't believe they'd discharged her," Sue said. "She told me she really needed the toilet and the poor thing had an accident in the taxi she was so ill. I told her to get her friend to come over when she was at home and help her clean up and then I'd come over in the morning. 'Then she rang me up half three that morning. She used to do that a lot but it was usually when she was out clubbing. 'She said 'My friend came around and she helped me in the bath and put me in my jimmy jammies and then she saw me into bed, but I just wanted to tell you that I'm coping all right. ''I've just got up and been to the loo by myself on my walker.' 'I said, 'Every day take it slowly, you're not in a hurry, you'll get there. 'She said, 'Mum I'm tired. I love you.' I told her to go to bed and that I loved her." Nikki died that same morning. Sue was on a train on her way to London when Nikki's friend called her and broke the news. 'Goodbye darling' She rushed to Nikki's flat, where she said her final goodbye. 'I just lay on the bed with Nikki and cried," she said. 'The worst thing was watching the undertakers come and put her in a body bag and taking her out. 'I went down in the lift with them and we got to the outside door and I said 'Which side is her head?' 'They said it's up there. I just stroked the bag from the outside and said 'Goodbye darling'. It's awful, awful. I'll never get over it. It was the worst day of my life." Sue said she blames the hospital for Nikki's death and even looked into taking legal action but no law firm would take the case. She believes it was irresponsible for them to discharge her when she "couldn't even bathe herself or dress herself" and says she should have been transferred to a mental health unit. 'Even if I'd have taken it to court and won, I didn't want the money," Sue said. "I wanted things to change. Maybe I would have tried to get a unit built somewhere that would help others with anorexia. 'That nurse shouldn't have said, 'If you walk up and down the stairs, you can leave', because she clearly wasn't well enough to leave the hospital. If that's a rule, it shouldn't be. 'Nikki died on a Saturday morning. And I was walking my dog on the Monday morning when that same nurse rang. She was crying and she said, 'I'm so, so sorry. She shouldn't have gone home.' 'They shouldn't have let her home just because she put a bit of pressure on. She didn't know what was best for her." Signs and symptoms of anorexia if you're under 18, your weight and height being lower than expected for your age if you're an adult, having an unusually low body mass index missing meals, eating very little or avoiding eating any foods you see as fattening believing you are fat when you are a healthy weight or underweight taking medication to reduce your hunger (appetite suppressants) your periods stopping (in women who have not reached menopause) or not starting (in younger women and girls) physical problems, such as feeling dizzy, dry skin and hair loss Four years on from Nikki's April 2021 death, Sue says she's still struggling emotionally. She has relocated from Dorset and lives in East Sussex with her chihuahua Joey. Just two months ago, she suffered another heartbreak when she had to have Baby, Nikki's chihuahua who she had cared for since before her death, put to sleep aged 19. 'Until the day I take my last breath I won't get over Nikki's loss," she said. 'Nothing in this world scares me anymore because the worst possible thing has happened. "Life is tough, but since I came down here I'm trying extremely hard. I've made a couple of really good friends. 'But I have to say I have never been loved as much as Nikki loved me. And it wasn't because I was a pushover, it was because from day one of her illness I was fighting for her. 'I try and be philosophical because at the end of the day, she was mine for 38 years. How lucky was I? And people still write lovely things about her. They still love her. 'She wasn't everybody's cup of tea but for me she was very special. And even if I died tomorrow, I know I was truly loved in my life, and that's something not everybody can say." If you or a loved one is struggling with an eating disorder, the charity Beat offers support, call the helpline on 0808 801 0677
The Sun
41 minutes ago
- The Sun
Viral ‘Dubai-style' chocolate is pulled from UK supermarket shelves over dangerous health risk
A VIRAL Dubai-style chocolate is being pulled from supermarket shelves across the UK, after being found to pose a dangerous health risk. A food alert"for action" has been issued to consumers and food businesses warning of the possible health risks the chocolate products present. 4 Dubai-style chocolate products that have been purchased from Noesis, Fix it and Le Damas, are the subject of the recall, with providers advised to immediate stop sales and undertake product withdrawals. This is because they have been found to include additional products and additional allergens. The products involved in the food alert are: Noesis Shokolade Love of Dubai, 95g Fit it Dubai Kunafa Chocolate, 50g Le Damas Dubai Chocolate Kunafa and Pistachio Any of these Dubai-style chocolate products are said to contain peanuts and other types of nuts, such as almonds, cashews, and walnuts. However, this is not mentioned on the labelling, and therefore presents a risk to anyone with nut allergies. The Food Standards Agency claim businesses have been supplied these products by a company called Black Sea Trading Ltd, who they say have "so far been contactable". They suggest food businesses selling these products should therefore enact food safety measures. The Agency also provides advise to consumers, and said: "If you have an allergy to peanuts or other types of nuts, don't buy these products, and if you have bought them, don't eat them, especially if you have a peanut or nut allergy. "Dispose of the products at home and get in touch with your local Trading Standards in Great Britain or Environmental Health Officers in Northern Ireland, to let them know where you purchased them." Shoppers go wild as Dubai chocolate dupe drops in Lidl Local authorities have been provided with details of specific action to be taken on behalf of consumers in relation to the product. Dubai-style chocolate has become a viral sensation around the world, and only recently come to common UK supermarket shelves. In June, the Dubai Chocolate Style Pistachio Cream and Kadayif Filled Milk Chocolate hit Aldi shelves across the UK, going for £3.99. Lidl also previously offered its JD Gross Dubai-Style Chocolate bar for also £3.99, which rapidly sold out. Waitrose introduced it's No.1 White Chocolate with Pistachio Nuts & Sea Salt bar priced at £2.75, offering a sweet and salty twist on the classic. And Morrisons sells the Bolci Dubai Chocolate With Pistachio Kadayif Filled Milk Chocolate at £5 for a 100g bar. The bars feature layers of rich pistachio cream and crunchy knafeh pastry, the is more regularly used in Middle Eastern desserts. Last month, the Food Standards Agency issued a similar warning about the Neosis Schokolade Love of Dubai chocolate too, due to it containing peanuts. Shops were told to immediately stop sales of the product, as this was not mentioned on the label. The recall of the chocolate products also comes just weeks after another Dubai-style sweet treat was pulled from UK supermarket shelves over risk to health issues. The Destan Pistazien Crème Dubai Style from Denar Limited was recalled at the end of last month, due to containing milk which was not mentioned on the label. 4
