A diabetes drug controversially utilized by Hollywood A-listers to assist them slim shortly is to launch in Britain as a path to weight loss, The Mail on Sunday can reveal.
Semaglutide is presently licensed within the UK solely to deal with weight-related sicknesses reminiscent of diabetes, below the model identify Ozempic. However its facet impact of serving to customers quickly shed kilos means it has a big ‘off-label’ market, during which specialists can provide it to anybody they really feel may profit.
This has resulted in shortages for individuals who want it.
A semaglutide drug authorised for weight reduction is to launch within the UK within the spring, the MoS understands, and can be bought by Boots. The drug’s producer, Danish pharmaceutical big Novo Nordisk, stated it’ll market the slimming drug, known as Wegovy, ‘as quickly as potential’.
Semaglutide is presently licensed within the UK solely to deal with weight-related sicknesses reminiscent of diabetes, below the model identify Ozempic
The value for the ‘skinny jab’ is below wraps till it goes on sale, however present customers of Ozempic advised the MoS they pay round £180 for a month’s provide. Customers inject the drug as soon as every week utilizing medical pens. It really works like a chemical gastric band, suppressing urge for food, with devotees claiming to have shed a mean of 16 per cent of their physique weight over a yr.
Ozempic has been known as ‘the worst-kept secret in Hollywood’, after an investigation by Selection journal steered A-listers have been utilizing it to slim down for occasions.
Elon Musk, proprietor of Twitter, stated he used Wegovy to maintain in form, and Kim Kardashian is rumoured to have used semaglutide to lose 16lb to suit right into a costume as soon as worn by Marilyn Monroe.
Shedding weight (file photograph). A semaglutide drug authorised for weight reduction is to launch within the UK within the spring, the MoS understands, and can be bought by Boots
Dr David Eccleston, a non-public Birmingham GP specialising in fats loss, stated he has had greater than 100 requests from sufferers wanting to make use of Ozempic as a weight-reduction therapy, however he has turned all of them down. He stated: ‘No medical skilled within the UK is allowed to actively promote Ozempic as a therapy for weight problems as a result of it’s outdoors the product licence.’
Novo Nordisk additionally says it doesn’t help ‘off-label prescribing’, including: ‘Affected person security is our precedence. All prescriptions of our merchandise needs to be according to the authorised abstract of product traits and the therapeutic indication.’
A Boots spokesman stated: ‘Wegovy is a prescription-only weight-loss drugs that may assist to manage urge for food and cut back cravings.
‘It may be an efficient drugs to attain sustained weight reduction when used alongside a decreased calorie eating regimen, elevated bodily exercise and wholesome life-style selections.’
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