July 27, 2025 • 16 mins
Obesity affects about a third of Australian adults, while another third are classified as overweight. But the weight loss drug Ozempic has proven to be a game changer in tackling this health epidemic across the country.
Drugs such as Ozempic have evolved from managing diabetes to managing waist lines as Hollywood celebrities and doctors have hailed it as a phenomenon, with Ozempic users dropping kilos without crash diets or joining the latest run club. A
But what's the catch?
Today, Explainer reporter, Jackson Graham breaks down the wonder drug and the side effects you need to know while balancing the risks with the benefits.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
S1 (00:02):
From the newsrooms of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
This is the morning edition. I'm Samantha Salinger Morris. It's Monday,
July 28th. Obesity affects about a third of Australian adults,
while another third are classified as overweight. But weight loss
(00:22):
drug Ozempic has proven to be a game changer in
tackling this health epidemic across the country. Drugs such as
Ozempic have evolved from managing diabetes to managing waistlines, as
Hollywood celebrities and doctors have hailed it as a phenomenon.
With ozempic users dropping kilos without crash diets or joining
(00:43):
the latest rung club. But what's the catch today? Explainer
reporter Jackson Graham breaks down the wonder drug and the
side effects you need to know while balancing the risks
with the benefits. So, Jackson, welcome back to the Morning Edition.
(01:04):
First off, can you just give us an idea of
how common it is now that people are using drugs
like Ozempic to lose weight? You know, we keep hearing
about celebrities like Oprah using it, but are many others too.
S2 (01:15):
Yeah, we've heard so many stories about how widely it's used,
whether it be on sort of social media or in
our own sort of friendship groups or celebrities, as you say.
In fact, even Jimmy Kimmel made a joke about it
at the Oscars last year.
S3 (01:27):
Congratulations. Welcome to the 95th Oscars. Everybody looks so great.
When I look around this room, I can't help but wonder,
is Ozempic right for me?
S2 (01:40):
But when it comes to, you know, how many people
are using it, the numbers are a little bit opaque.
There's obviously plenty of indications the drugs are being used
pretty widely. A poll in the US found about 1
in 8 adults had tried the drug. About half of
them were still using it. It's worth pointing out that
about 60% of these took them for diabetes or other conditions.
(02:00):
Then the other 40% were using them for weight loss.
In Australia, the figures are a little bit unclear as well.
The drugs are only listed on our Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme
for their original purpose, which is for type two diabetes,
and the PBS data shows more than 2 million prescriptions
were filled in the financial year 2023 to 24. It's
(02:22):
worth pointing out this data includes the same people filling
multiple scripts. So it's it's not 2 million individuals. Still,
it was a whopping 60% growth on the year prior.
So that certainly indicates it wasn't only being driven by
people getting it for diabetes.
S1 (02:37):
Wow. Okay. So let's get to basics like how do
drugs like ozempic actually work.
S2 (02:41):
All right. So put simply, they work by slowing your
stomach from emptying, which obviously makes you feel full for
longer and helps you, you know, helps people reduce the
portions they're eating.
S4 (02:56):
They're believed to regulate blood sugar levels and imitate a
hormone to signal to users brains that they feel full.
They may also slow the movement of food through the stomach.
Some scientists are now studying the possibility that these injections
could quell more than just food cravings. Sarah Zhang in
The Atlantic.
S2 (03:16):
It's worth saying they've had some pretty remarkable results here.
They don't work for everyone, though, but generally in Novo
Nordisk's trials. So this is a drug company that sells
Ozempic and another brand called Wegovy. The trials showed that
they reduced body weight by 15% after 68 weeks. L-R Lilly,
which is another drug company based in the US. It
(03:37):
has a weight loss drug called Monjaro, similar to Ozempic
and Wegovy. And these were even more successful. They led
to about a 25% body loss in the first year
for people. Many health practitioners are obviously praising their potential,
but it's not only just about treating weight loss, it's
the obesity related conditions too. So studies have found they've
(03:58):
been successful at lowering heart attack, kidney disease and Ease
and stroke.
S1 (04:02):
But I also read in your piece that the medication
also does something to the brain. You know, something about
the drugs telling the brain that it's less hungry. So
tell me about that.
S2 (04:10):
There's obviously a connection between our stomach being emptied and
our brains telling us we're hungry. So there's also been
this interesting effect where the drugs have reduced what people
with obesity describe as food noise. These are constant thoughts
about food running through people's minds, like, I wonder what's
on special in the supermarket, for example? Or, you know,
I really want to finish off that tub of dessert
(04:30):
yogurt I just bought yesterday. People describe these intrusive thoughts
as remarkably sort of disappearing when they take these drugs,
so obviously that just helps them focus on now, you know,
having a clearer mind where they can think about eating well.
But obviously just having all this other mental room for
things in their daily life.
S1 (04:47):
Yeah. That's incredible. I mean, I imagine a lot of
people that would feel like a miracle, you know, those
thoughts can be so intrusive. But how did people actually
realize that this drug could even be used for weight loss? Because,
you know, as you mentioned before, it was originally and
primarily used for people with diabetes.
S2 (05:01):
So there's a really interesting backstory to this. Basically, scientists
have known for a long time that there's a hormone
in our body called GLP one, and it plays a
crucial role in regulating insulin in our bodies and making
us feel that full feeling after eating. Crucially, though, so
people with type two diabetes make less of this hormone
(05:22):
than the general population. So in the past, it was
thought maybe you could simply reinject people with type two
diabetes with the hormone GLP one and and that would
treat them. Uh, but there was a problem when our
own GLP one is re-injected into us, it only hangs
around in our bloodstream for a few minutes and then
it vanishes. So now if we flash forward to the 1980s,
(05:44):
there's a group of scientists in the US, and they're
studying lizard venom of all things. They're looking at a
particular lizard called the Gila monster, about the same length
as a bluetongue lizard in Australia, but they're actually found
in the US's arid regions on the southwest border with
with Mexico. When these scientists took a closer look at
the venom, They found a peptide which they've called xidan for.
(06:06):
This peptide very closely resembles glp1. So amazingly, it could
be used to mimic and activate GLP one cells in
people's bodies. Eventually, this peptide from the lizard gets put
into a drug by Eli Lilly, which was called Barretta.
And it worked to treat type two diabetes, but it
(06:26):
also reduced weight in people by about 5%. So I
spoke with one of the scientists who discovered this peptide
in the in the lizard venom, and he was astounded.
He sort of described it initially as a fishing expedition
that just went surprisingly well. What he also told me
is that he's really surprised how long it took for
these drug companies to kind of go on to market
them as a weight loss drugs as well as diabetes drugs. So,
(06:48):
you know, it's been known in scientific communities that they
have effects on weight loss for a long time. And,
you know, it's only sort of in the last 5
to 10 years, really, that they've sort of been used
as weight loss drugs.
S1 (07:00):
And what effect have they had the results.
S2 (07:03):
Obviously we've heard that they've been pretty remarkable. I spoke
to one woman in her 50s, Jen. She over a
period of about 15 years, gained close to about 100 kilos.
On top of her ordinary weight. She's described herself as
having a food addiction, which for her meant buying really
expensive sort of gourmet foods. Like, for example, maybe like
a Camembert cheese, rather than just buying the light version
(07:25):
from the supermarket and really sort of indulging in those foods.
So after years of trying to manage this with dieting
and exercise, none of it worked. And then unfortunately, she
developed a tumour on her leg and the doctors said
to her, why don't you try ozempic? And since she's
lost about 30 kilos. So yeah, it's sort of been
a real turning point for people in that situation.
S1 (07:49):
We'll be right back. And in your piece, you really
delved into the side effects of taking this medication, which
is something I know a lot of people are curious about.
So what did you find out? Let's just start with
the short term side effects first.
S2 (08:05):
Yeah. So this has really taken off on social media,
you know, with people talking about all sorts of things
from sulfur burps, which are basically these sort of foul smelling,
egg smelling burps, and then things like hair loss, for example.
And both of these are very, very rare, really. And
hair loss is not to do with the drug itself.
It's to do with, you know, the side effects of
losing weight very rapidly. For about a fifth of people, though,
(08:26):
there are some pretty bad side effects, at least to
begin with. Often it's nausea, but it can also be vomiting, diarrhea,
abdominal pain, and constipation, as we talked about, you know,
the drugs slow the stomach from emptying. So you can
imagine this sensation can cause people to feel pretty sick
in the first couple of days. Doctors basically prepare people
for this and give them the lowest possible dose and
ramp it up gradually, really to sort of acclimatize them
(08:49):
to it, I suppose. So for most people, a loss
of appetite on the drugs causes them to sort of
reset their eating habits as they gradually get used to it.
But there can be a transition phase where people are
actually still eating what they were eating before they were
taking the drug, eating the same amount and obviously the
stomach is more full. So this can actually sort of
enhance the nausea I suppose. Make it worse.
S1 (09:10):
Interesting. And tell us about longer term side effects. What
does the evidence say in that regard.
S2 (09:16):
So there's no doubt when you look through the disclaimers
for Ozempic, you can feel your heart racing a little bit.
The scarier risks listed for these drugs include things like
thyroid tumors, pancreatitis, and vision loss. But it's worth noting
this isn't really a dissimilar situation from other drugs. It's
just these drugs have taken on this life of their own,
where there's sort of urban myth and medical research all colliding.
(09:39):
So all the doctors I spoke to for the piece,
several endocrinologists, a GP, a weight loss specialist were not
concerned about long term side effects at this stage. They
say it's more important to focus on treating obesity as
a disease, and many drugs in their infancy that are
used for treating serious diseases will have some kind of
flag for there being the risks of potential long term
side effects. It's yeah, it's not uncommon. And I suppose
(10:01):
if we're using these drugs to treat a disease which
is obesity. You know, it should really be thought of
the same way as treating any disease.
S1 (10:08):
That's fair. I do want to follow up just by
asking about one thing further, which is, you know, the
risk of pancreatitis, it's a potentially life threatening inflammation of
the pancreas. That's just one of the potential side effects
that's flagged. So has there been any evidence of that?
Because that's obviously one of the scarier ones.
S2 (10:24):
Yeah. So there has been. So in Australia, the TGA
monitors drugs for all kinds of side effects that might
help them understand whether a drug they've approved needs to,
you know, have different regulation around it for safety. Pancreatitis
has been the condition that the TGA has received the
most reports of about 350, which is still probably a
relatively small number since the drug became available in in 2019.
(10:47):
But the TGA sort of encourages people to report any
suspected side effect, really. So these might be a coincidence
or it might be. And it's also worth pointing out
that weight gain itself is a is a common contributor
to pancreatitis. Things like excessive drinking of alcohol and gallstones
can cause pancreatitis. So the drug company Novo Nordisk, in
(11:08):
its own two year clinical trials of about 3300 people,
it found only nine people had mild pancreatitis.
S1 (11:16):
And so tell us what actually happens when you stop
taking the drug? Because I know that one thing that
we hear a lot about is, okay, once people stop
taking it, all the weight comes back on. So people
are questioning, well, do I have to stay on this
drug forever? So yeah. Tell us what happens when you
stop taking it.
S2 (11:31):
Yeah. So a few years ago we were all hearing
about the shortages of ozempic, particularly how they're affecting people
with type two diabetes who were suddenly sort of competing
with people who were getting them for weight loss in
terms of access. It became really difficult to get them.
It was interesting to hear the consequence of these shortages
from Jen's perspective, too. So she started taking the drugs
for weight loss a few years ago, but she wasn't
(11:53):
able to get hold of them. You know, she'd get
hold of one prescription, and then it would be a
few months before she'd get hold of another pen. So
every time this happened, she regained about 4 to 5 kilos.
So this this aligns with what the drug company Novo
Nordisk says. It basically says that, you know, patients in
its trials regained about two thirds of their prior weight
within 12 months if they went off the medication. This
(12:15):
sort of seesawing, if people go off the weight loss
drugs is worrying to physicians because they know that when
people lose fat, they also potentially lose muscle. And then
when they regain the fat, they don't regain this as muscle.
They actually just regain more fat. So it's certainly got
physicians concerned that this could be a side effect of
going on and off the drug. This is more anecdotal
(12:36):
as well, but one doctor told me that people who
significantly change their eating habits described being too scared to
eat like they were again when they came off the
drug after about a year. So, you know, some people,
it seems, anecdotally at least, are able to go off
the drug and not regain the weight. But it certainly
doesn't work for everyone, because I think what's crucial in
(12:58):
keeping in mind here is that obesity isn't just about behavior,
it's about our genetics. So Yeah, it's very hard to
just simply say, change a habit and you'll lose the
weight or keep it off.
S5 (13:09):
So it sounds like the science.
S1 (13:11):
Isn't really settled in, right? Like maybe we understand the
short term impacts, but the long term side effects really
aren't known. Isn't that right?
S2 (13:18):
Yeah, that's exactly right. Katherine Samaras, a well-known endocrinologist in Sydney.
She put it this way to me, basically. She said,
we have this conundrum in almost every avenue of medical treatment,
if we consider obesity as a disease with mortality, comorbidities
and life suffering, then we need to balance up the
risks versus the benefit. So it's about really understanding that
we don't really know what the long term side effects are.
(13:39):
But if we look at obesity as a disease, you know,
in that sense, there's this kind of calculation that goes
on where the risks can actually be outweighed by the benefits.
It's certainly still early days, but the drugs are certainly
showing a lot of promise. Probably, though, the most important
thing to take away is that it's crucial that people
take them with the help of other health practitioners that
(14:01):
look at people's weight gain in the widest possible way.
So people suppress their appetite on these drugs, and it's
really important that they then focus on getting good nutrition
as well. So enough protein, for example, to stop muscle wasting.
Enough calcium for their bones. Enough vitamins to ensure their
immune system stay strong. It's also really important they continue
to exercise. You know, they may have found exercise hasn't
(14:22):
really worked for weight loss in the past, but that
doesn't mean that the drugs, you know, can do all
the heavy lifting. I guess. You know, exercise isn't just
about weight loss, but it's also about sort of building
muscle and bone density, which can make us healthier into
older age. And then there's the sort of mental health
benefits of exercising as well. And on that topic, you know,
psychologists can also play a role here. You know, for example,
(14:43):
if someone has a food addiction where they binge, the
causes of this aren't necessarily addressed through the drug. So yeah,
it's important that I suppose anybody who takes the drug
does it in consultation with kind of a wide range
of health practitioners who can help them change their lifestyle
and live healthier. Really not just use the drug to
kind of do that for them.
S1 (15:06):
Well, you've certainly answered a lot of questions that I'm
sure a lot of people have about these drugs. So
thank you so much for your time.
S2 (15:13):
Thanks for having me on again, Samantha.
S1 (15:20):
Today's episode of The Morning Edition was produced by Josh towers.
Our executive producer is Tammy Mills. Tom McKendrick is our
head of audio. To listen to our episodes as soon
as they drop, follow the Morning Edition on Apple, Spotify,
or wherever you listen to podcasts. Our newsrooms are powered
by subscriptions, so to support independent journalism, visit the page or.
(15:44):
Subscribe and to stay up to date, sign up to
our morning newsletter to receive a summary of the day's
most important news in your inbox every morning. Links are
in the show. Notes. I'm Samantha Selinger. Morris. Thanks for listening.
From the newsrooms of the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.
This is the morning edition. I'm Samantha Salinger Morris. It's Monday,
July 28th. Obesity affects about a third of Australian adults,
while another third are classified as overweight. But weight loss
(00:22):
drug Ozempic has proven to be a game changer in
tackling this health epidemic across the country. Drugs such as
Ozempic have evolved from managing diabetes to managing waistlines, as
Hollywood celebrities and doctors have hailed it as a phenomenon.
With ozempic users dropping kilos without crash diets or joining
(00:43):
the latest rung club. But what's the catch today? Explainer
reporter Jackson Graham breaks down the wonder drug and the
side effects you need to know while balancing the risks
with the benefits. So, Jackson, welcome back to the Morning Edition.
(01:04):
First off, can you just give us an idea of
how common it is now that people are using drugs
like Ozempic to lose weight? You know, we keep hearing
about celebrities like Oprah using it, but are many others too.
S2 (01:15):
Yeah, we've heard so many stories about how widely it's used,
whether it be on sort of social media or in
our own sort of friendship groups or celebrities, as you say.
In fact, even Jimmy Kimmel made a joke about it
at the Oscars last year.
S3 (01:27):
Congratulations. Welcome to the 95th Oscars. Everybody looks so great.
When I look around this room, I can't help but wonder,
is Ozempic right for me?
S2 (01:40):
But when it comes to, you know, how many people
are using it, the numbers are a little bit opaque.
There's obviously plenty of indications the drugs are being used
pretty widely. A poll in the US found about 1
in 8 adults had tried the drug. About half of
them were still using it. It's worth pointing out that
about 60% of these took them for diabetes or other conditions.
(02:00):
Then the other 40% were using them for weight loss.
In Australia, the figures are a little bit unclear as well.
The drugs are only listed on our Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme
for their original purpose, which is for type two diabetes,
and the PBS data shows more than 2 million prescriptions
were filled in the financial year 2023 to 24. It's
(02:22):
worth pointing out this data includes the same people filling
multiple scripts. So it's it's not 2 million individuals. Still,
it was a whopping 60% growth on the year prior.
So that certainly indicates it wasn't only being driven by
people getting it for diabetes.
S1 (02:37):
Wow. Okay. So let's get to basics like how do
drugs like ozempic actually work.
S2 (02:41):
All right. So put simply, they work by slowing your
stomach from emptying, which obviously makes you feel full for
longer and helps you, you know, helps people reduce the
portions they're eating.
S4 (02:56):
They're believed to regulate blood sugar levels and imitate a
hormone to signal to users brains that they feel full.
They may also slow the movement of food through the stomach.
Some scientists are now studying the possibility that these injections
could quell more than just food cravings. Sarah Zhang in
The Atlantic.
S2 (03:16):
It's worth saying they've had some pretty remarkable results here.
They don't work for everyone, though, but generally in Novo
Nordisk's trials. So this is a drug company that sells
Ozempic and another brand called Wegovy. The trials showed that
they reduced body weight by 15% after 68 weeks. L-R Lilly,
which is another drug company based in the US. It
(03:37):
has a weight loss drug called Monjaro, similar to Ozempic
and Wegovy. And these were even more successful. They led
to about a 25% body loss in the first year
for people. Many health practitioners are obviously praising their potential,
but it's not only just about treating weight loss, it's
the obesity related conditions too. So studies have found they've
(03:58):
been successful at lowering heart attack, kidney disease and Ease
and stroke.
S1 (04:02):
But I also read in your piece that the medication
also does something to the brain. You know, something about
the drugs telling the brain that it's less hungry. So
tell me about that.
S2 (04:10):
There's obviously a connection between our stomach being emptied and
our brains telling us we're hungry. So there's also been
this interesting effect where the drugs have reduced what people
with obesity describe as food noise. These are constant thoughts
about food running through people's minds, like, I wonder what's
on special in the supermarket, for example? Or, you know,
I really want to finish off that tub of dessert
(04:30):
yogurt I just bought yesterday. People describe these intrusive thoughts
as remarkably sort of disappearing when they take these drugs,
so obviously that just helps them focus on now, you know,
having a clearer mind where they can think about eating well.
But obviously just having all this other mental room for
things in their daily life.
S1 (04:47):
Yeah. That's incredible. I mean, I imagine a lot of
people that would feel like a miracle, you know, those
thoughts can be so intrusive. But how did people actually
realize that this drug could even be used for weight loss? Because,
you know, as you mentioned before, it was originally and
primarily used for people with diabetes.
S2 (05:01):
So there's a really interesting backstory to this. Basically, scientists
have known for a long time that there's a hormone
in our body called GLP one, and it plays a
crucial role in regulating insulin in our bodies and making
us feel that full feeling after eating. Crucially, though, so
people with type two diabetes make less of this hormone
(05:22):
than the general population. So in the past, it was
thought maybe you could simply reinject people with type two
diabetes with the hormone GLP one and and that would
treat them. Uh, but there was a problem when our
own GLP one is re-injected into us, it only hangs
around in our bloodstream for a few minutes and then
it vanishes. So now if we flash forward to the 1980s,
(05:44):
there's a group of scientists in the US, and they're
studying lizard venom of all things. They're looking at a
particular lizard called the Gila monster, about the same length
as a bluetongue lizard in Australia, but they're actually found
in the US's arid regions on the southwest border with
with Mexico. When these scientists took a closer look at
the venom, They found a peptide which they've called xidan for.
(06:06):
This peptide very closely resembles glp1. So amazingly, it could
be used to mimic and activate GLP one cells in
people's bodies. Eventually, this peptide from the lizard gets put
into a drug by Eli Lilly, which was called Barretta.
And it worked to treat type two diabetes, but it
(06:26):
also reduced weight in people by about 5%. So I
spoke with one of the scientists who discovered this peptide
in the in the lizard venom, and he was astounded.
He sort of described it initially as a fishing expedition
that just went surprisingly well. What he also told me
is that he's really surprised how long it took for
these drug companies to kind of go on to market
them as a weight loss drugs as well as diabetes drugs. So,
(06:48):
you know, it's been known in scientific communities that they
have effects on weight loss for a long time. And,
you know, it's only sort of in the last 5
to 10 years, really, that they've sort of been used
as weight loss drugs.
S1 (07:00):
And what effect have they had the results.
S2 (07:03):
Obviously we've heard that they've been pretty remarkable. I spoke
to one woman in her 50s, Jen. She over a
period of about 15 years, gained close to about 100 kilos.
On top of her ordinary weight. She's described herself as
having a food addiction, which for her meant buying really
expensive sort of gourmet foods. Like, for example, maybe like
a Camembert cheese, rather than just buying the light version
(07:25):
from the supermarket and really sort of indulging in those foods.
So after years of trying to manage this with dieting
and exercise, none of it worked. And then unfortunately, she
developed a tumour on her leg and the doctors said
to her, why don't you try ozempic? And since she's
lost about 30 kilos. So yeah, it's sort of been
a real turning point for people in that situation.
S1 (07:49):
We'll be right back. And in your piece, you really
delved into the side effects of taking this medication, which
is something I know a lot of people are curious about.
So what did you find out? Let's just start with
the short term side effects first.
S2 (08:05):
Yeah. So this has really taken off on social media,
you know, with people talking about all sorts of things
from sulfur burps, which are basically these sort of foul smelling,
egg smelling burps, and then things like hair loss, for example.
And both of these are very, very rare, really. And
hair loss is not to do with the drug itself.
It's to do with, you know, the side effects of
losing weight very rapidly. For about a fifth of people, though,
(08:26):
there are some pretty bad side effects, at least to
begin with. Often it's nausea, but it can also be vomiting, diarrhea,
abdominal pain, and constipation, as we talked about, you know,
the drugs slow the stomach from emptying. So you can
imagine this sensation can cause people to feel pretty sick
in the first couple of days. Doctors basically prepare people
for this and give them the lowest possible dose and
ramp it up gradually, really to sort of acclimatize them
(08:49):
to it, I suppose. So for most people, a loss
of appetite on the drugs causes them to sort of
reset their eating habits as they gradually get used to it.
But there can be a transition phase where people are
actually still eating what they were eating before they were
taking the drug, eating the same amount and obviously the
stomach is more full. So this can actually sort of
enhance the nausea I suppose. Make it worse.
S1 (09:10):
Interesting. And tell us about longer term side effects. What
does the evidence say in that regard.
S2 (09:16):
So there's no doubt when you look through the disclaimers
for Ozempic, you can feel your heart racing a little bit.
The scarier risks listed for these drugs include things like
thyroid tumors, pancreatitis, and vision loss. But it's worth noting
this isn't really a dissimilar situation from other drugs. It's
just these drugs have taken on this life of their own,
where there's sort of urban myth and medical research all colliding.
(09:39):
So all the doctors I spoke to for the piece,
several endocrinologists, a GP, a weight loss specialist were not
concerned about long term side effects at this stage. They
say it's more important to focus on treating obesity as
a disease, and many drugs in their infancy that are
used for treating serious diseases will have some kind of
flag for there being the risks of potential long term
side effects. It's yeah, it's not uncommon. And I suppose
(10:01):
if we're using these drugs to treat a disease which
is obesity. You know, it should really be thought of
the same way as treating any disease.
S1 (10:08):
That's fair. I do want to follow up just by
asking about one thing further, which is, you know, the
risk of pancreatitis, it's a potentially life threatening inflammation of
the pancreas. That's just one of the potential side effects
that's flagged. So has there been any evidence of that?
Because that's obviously one of the scarier ones.
S2 (10:24):
Yeah. So there has been. So in Australia, the TGA
monitors drugs for all kinds of side effects that might
help them understand whether a drug they've approved needs to,
you know, have different regulation around it for safety. Pancreatitis
has been the condition that the TGA has received the
most reports of about 350, which is still probably a
relatively small number since the drug became available in in 2019.
(10:47):
But the TGA sort of encourages people to report any
suspected side effect, really. So these might be a coincidence
or it might be. And it's also worth pointing out
that weight gain itself is a is a common contributor
to pancreatitis. Things like excessive drinking of alcohol and gallstones
can cause pancreatitis. So the drug company Novo Nordisk, in
(11:08):
its own two year clinical trials of about 3300 people,
it found only nine people had mild pancreatitis.
S1 (11:16):
And so tell us what actually happens when you stop
taking the drug? Because I know that one thing that
we hear a lot about is, okay, once people stop
taking it, all the weight comes back on. So people
are questioning, well, do I have to stay on this
drug forever? So yeah. Tell us what happens when you
stop taking it.
S2 (11:31):
Yeah. So a few years ago we were all hearing
about the shortages of ozempic, particularly how they're affecting people
with type two diabetes who were suddenly sort of competing
with people who were getting them for weight loss in
terms of access. It became really difficult to get them.
It was interesting to hear the consequence of these shortages
from Jen's perspective, too. So she started taking the drugs
for weight loss a few years ago, but she wasn't
(11:53):
able to get hold of them. You know, she'd get
hold of one prescription, and then it would be a
few months before she'd get hold of another pen. So
every time this happened, she regained about 4 to 5 kilos.
So this this aligns with what the drug company Novo
Nordisk says. It basically says that, you know, patients in
its trials regained about two thirds of their prior weight
within 12 months if they went off the medication. This
(12:15):
sort of seesawing, if people go off the weight loss
drugs is worrying to physicians because they know that when
people lose fat, they also potentially lose muscle. And then
when they regain the fat, they don't regain this as muscle.
They actually just regain more fat. So it's certainly got
physicians concerned that this could be a side effect of
going on and off the drug. This is more anecdotal
(12:36):
as well, but one doctor told me that people who
significantly change their eating habits described being too scared to
eat like they were again when they came off the
drug after about a year. So, you know, some people,
it seems, anecdotally at least, are able to go off
the drug and not regain the weight. But it certainly
doesn't work for everyone, because I think what's crucial in
(12:58):
keeping in mind here is that obesity isn't just about behavior,
it's about our genetics. So Yeah, it's very hard to
just simply say, change a habit and you'll lose the
weight or keep it off.
S5 (13:09):
So it sounds like the science.
S1 (13:11):
Isn't really settled in, right? Like maybe we understand the
short term impacts, but the long term side effects really
aren't known. Isn't that right?
S2 (13:18):
Yeah, that's exactly right. Katherine Samaras, a well-known endocrinologist in Sydney.
She put it this way to me, basically. She said,
we have this conundrum in almost every avenue of medical treatment,
if we consider obesity as a disease with mortality, comorbidities
and life suffering, then we need to balance up the
risks versus the benefit. So it's about really understanding that
we don't really know what the long term side effects are.
(13:39):
But if we look at obesity as a disease, you know,
in that sense, there's this kind of calculation that goes
on where the risks can actually be outweighed by the benefits.
It's certainly still early days, but the drugs are certainly
showing a lot of promise. Probably, though, the most important
thing to take away is that it's crucial that people
take them with the help of other health practitioners that
(14:01):
look at people's weight gain in the widest possible way.
So people suppress their appetite on these drugs, and it's
really important that they then focus on getting good nutrition
as well. So enough protein, for example, to stop muscle wasting.
Enough calcium for their bones. Enough vitamins to ensure their
immune system stay strong. It's also really important they continue
to exercise. You know, they may have found exercise hasn't
(14:22):
really worked for weight loss in the past, but that
doesn't mean that the drugs, you know, can do all
the heavy lifting. I guess. You know, exercise isn't just
about weight loss, but it's also about sort of building
muscle and bone density, which can make us healthier into
older age. And then there's the sort of mental health
benefits of exercising as well. And on that topic, you know,
psychologists can also play a role here. You know, for example,
(14:43):
if someone has a food addiction where they binge, the
causes of this aren't necessarily addressed through the drug. So yeah,
it's important that I suppose anybody who takes the drug
does it in consultation with kind of a wide range
of health practitioners who can help them change their lifestyle
and live healthier. Really not just use the drug to
kind of do that for them.
S1 (15:06):
Well, you've certainly answered a lot of questions that I'm
sure a lot of people have about these drugs. So
thank you so much for your time.
S2 (15:13):
Thanks for having me on again, Samantha.
S1 (15:20):
Today's episode of The Morning Edition was produced by Josh towers.
Our executive producer is Tammy Mills. Tom McKendrick is our
head of audio. To listen to our episodes as soon
as they drop, follow the Morning Edition on Apple, Spotify,
or wherever you listen to podcasts. Our newsrooms are powered
by subscriptions, so to support independent journalism, visit the page or.
(15:44):
Subscribe and to stay up to date, sign up to
our morning newsletter to receive a summary of the day's
most important news in your inbox every morning. Links are
in the show. Notes. I'm Samantha Selinger. Morris. Thanks for listening.
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