'Weight loss drugs effective, but not without supervision'

With a new wave of anti-obesity drugs becoming a household name, and seeing unprecedented demand, even in India where they are not officially available yet, we get a medical expert to share everything you should know about these drugs

- SHUBHANGI SHAH

IT MIGHT ALL have started with a single tweet by Elon Musk, followed by presenter Jimmy Kimmel joking, "Everybody looks so great. When I look around this room, I can't help but wonder 'Is Ozempic right for me?"" at the 2023 Oscars, but this anti-diabetic (weight-loss) drug has taken the world by storm. While formally unavailable in India, it, along with other anti-obesity drugs such as Wegovy, of Danish pharma major Novo Nordisk, also the creator behind Ozempic; along with Eli Lilly's Mounjaro, are also stirring interest and demand in the country.

"Not a day passes when somebody doesn't call me to enquire about the drug," says Dr Ambrish Mithal, chairman of endocrinology and diabetes at Max Healthcare. Wegovy, a weekly injection, is approved in the US as a weight-loss medication, while both Ozempic and Mounjaro are anti-diabetic drugs.

'Quantum of weight loss sets them apart'

"These (anti-diabetic) drugs increase insulin secretion and as an added benefit, they lead to weight loss, which is also beneficial for type-2 diabetes," explains Dr Mithal.

Medications specifically for weight loss aren't new. "The conventional weight-loss drugs, which basically act on the brain, have a dismal history. Although effective, they have severe side effects, and hence are withdrawn within a few years of the launch," explains Dr Mithal.

The newer drugs, on the other hand, work through a different pathway and belong to class of drugs called glucagon-like peptide-1 agonists. These essentially mimic the hormone GLP-1, produced in the gut, which signals the brain when a person is full. This is true for semaglutide, the anti-diabetic medication sold under the brand name Ozempic and Wegovy. Interestingly,"Semaglutide is also available in India, as an oral drug called Rybelsus. Its advantage is that it is oral, but it is less effective than the injectables," says Dr Mithal.