Semaglutide - The Wonder Drug

Its promise as a miracle medication for diabetes and obesity is taking the world-and India-by storm, but its indiscriminate use for weight loss could have dire consequences

- SONALI ACHARJEE

101 MN
INDIANS SAID TO BE SUFFERING FROM DIABETES IN 2021, according to ICMR-INDIAB study, 2023. Another 136 mn are pre-diabetic

56.7%
WOMEN WITH HIGHRISK WAIST TO HIP RATIO; among men, it is 47.7%, reveals NFHS-5 data

272
PER 100,000 POPULATION. India's age-standardised cardiovascular disease death rate. It is higher than the world average of 235 per 100,000

Nitin Chaddha (name changed), a 44-year-old businessman in Delhi, gained 23 kilos during the Covid pandemic. It affected not just his marital relati onship, but also his self-esteem. “I couldn’t bear to look at myself in the mirror, or have my pictures taken,” he says. Then, he app roached the doctor who had been treating his brother for diabetes. His brother is taking Rybelsus, the oral version of Ozempic, both of which contain a revolutionary ingredient called semaglutide, which while helping regulate sugar, also results in weight loss. “My brother lost seven kilos in a few months,” says Chaddha, who is not diabetic but is morbidly obese, with a BMI of 34. “I met his doctor and, under his guidance, used the drug to lose 10 kilos myself.” He has been on Rybelsus for four months now.