SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – New medications that promote weight loss have been making headlines in recent months. With this spike in interest, many people might have questions about whether the drugs are safe and who should be taking them.
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Dr. Diana Thiara, an internist at UCSF Health and director of the UCSF Medical Weight Management Program, joined KCBS Radio’s Alice Wertz on “As Prescribed” to demystify Ozempic and Wegovy, from how they work to who they are for.
“Wegovy and Ozempic are a type of medication called a GLP-1 receptor agonist,” Thiara said. “And what they do most importantly is they work at your pancreas to increase the amount of insulin your body is making.”
While that is the main function of the medications, Thiara also explained that they work on the stomach to decrease gastric emptying – meaning that food sits in the stomachs of people taking them longer – and that they promote a feeling of fullness of satiety.
“You actually feel more mentally full and physically full, and then your body is just able to process blood sugar better because it’s making more insulin with the help of these medications.”
Wegovy and Ozempic are brand names for semaglutide, which mimics a hormone that encourages the release of insulin from the pancreas. They are the only brands with semaglutide formulas approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
Ozempic and Mounjaro are FDA-approved to treat diabetes, while only Wegovy is currently approved for weight management.
“The difference really is, is that the FDA has approved semaglutide 2.0, which is Ozempic, just for diabetes,” said Thiara. “And then the FDA approved a higher dose of semaglutide to 2.4 milligrams called Wegovy, and Wegovy is what’s meant for weight management reasons.”
She also said that eligibility for Wegovy requires either having a BMI greater than or equal to 30 or a BMI greater than or equal to 27 with a comorbidity. High blood pressure, cholesterol, sleep apnea, fatty liver disease and more could be considered a comorbidity.
Benefits of the medication are related to weight loss, and can include improvements in blood pressure, improvements in blood sugar, reductions in cholesterol, easier breathing and a reduction in joint pan “in the right patient population,” said Thaira. However, she said that taking the medication does come with the risk of side effects, such as dizziness, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation, and in more rare cases, pancreatitis and depression, as well as suicidal ideation.
Listen to the full “As Prescribed” discussion to hear Thiara’s recommendations for those interested in considering asking their doctor about weight loss medication. You can also listen to last week’s “As Prescribed” clearing up confusion about COVID-19, RSV and the flu here.
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