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Health

Wegovy and Ozempic made 2023 a revolutionary year for weight loss

The success of semaglutide mimic drugs in helping people lose weight saw demand rocket in 2023, with manufacturers struggling to keep up - something that almost never happens

By Clare Wilson

13 December 2023

2PNBXXP Pack of Ozempic, antidiabetic for weight control, taken in a pharmacy in Niesky, April 13, 2023.

Wegovy shortages have seen “off label” use of the diabetes drug Ozempic

dpa picture alliance/Alamy

Weight management was transformed in 2023, with soaring use of the drug Wegovy, or semaglutide. Never before has there been an approved weight loss medicine that is so effective and yet also considered reasonably safe. “The medical therapy of obesity has been revolutionised,” says Daniel Drucker at the University of Toronto, Canada.

Amid near constant media coverage, demand for Wegovy rose so much that supplies in some pharmacies ran out in the US, where the drug was launched in…

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