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When Brands Become Verbs: The Ozempic Effect

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brand name productsOccasionally, product names become so well-known that they rise above their identity and become part of everyday language. For example, if someone responds to your request for information with “google it,” or a co-worker asks, “Do you have a bandaid?” or your spouse asks you to “pass the Kleenex,” the meaning is perfectly clear – there’s no explanation required. (Fun fact: Some other fun brand names that have become a part of our vocabulary are q-tip, vaseline, aspirin, chapstick, velcro, and ziploc.) 

Marketing managers dream that their products can become so well known that they become synonymous with their functionality. This makes selling the product much easier and makes it much harder for competitors to break into the market even when they have better or cheaper alternatives. 

A recent instance of a brand name becoming so familiar that it has become synonymous with its function is the weight-loss drug Ozempic. The brand name “Ozempic” has become a common term whenever there is a conversation about medications for weight loss. Just today, the New York Times ran an article titledIs Green Tea Really ‘Nature’s Ozempic’?”. There was no need in the article to explain in any detail what Ozempic is or what it does. The authors correctly assumed that most of their readers were already quite familiar with Ozempic’s features and were more interested in finding out whether green tea could mimic them. (Spoiler alert: Any Ozempic-like benefits from green tea were minimal and short-lived).

But there’s a downside to this immediate association between a product’s name and the broad function that it performs. A company may need to introduce a related product that addresses the same market segment but must use a different name for other reasons. Then, the automatic association between the previous name and the function it performs makes it harder to bring the new product into the market. This is pricely the issue that Novo Nordisk, the company that manufactures Ozempic, is facing. It quickly gained a dominant position in the exploding market for weight-loss injections. However, it’s still only approved by the FDA for treating diabetes, so doctors can only prescribe it off-label to patients who are not diabetic. 

The timeline of the new world of weight-loss medication

Phase 1 – Ozempic for diabetes

Ozempic weight loss pen Ozempic was developed as a treatment for type 2 diabetes. It is based on the biochemistry of a natural hormone called glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), which is released by the small intestine after eating. GLP-1 triggers the release of insulin from the pancreas, which is essential for the control of sugar levels in the blood. It also controls the secretion of glucagon by the liver. Glucagon is a hormone that can raise blood sugar levels. As a treatment for diabetes, the function of GLP-1 is to keep blood sugar levels under control when the body’s own biochemistry fails to do so. 

Before Ozempic, treatments for diabetes required daily medication and strict dietary controls. Patients had to keep testing their blood sugar levels to ensure their supplementary insulin pills or injections were at the right strength relative to whatever foods they ate.

Ozempic was much simpler in this respect. It is a self-administered weekly injection that keeps working without supervision to maintain proper insulin levels and control glucogen so that sugar levels in the blood are steady. The FDA approved Ozempic in 2017 and it very quickly became the “gold standard” for treating diabetes, especially for patients who had had difficulty keeping blood sugar levels under control before.

Phase 2 – Ozempic, the weight-loss wonder

More and more of the thousands of diabetic patients who had been switched to Ozempic were reporting back to their healthcare providers that along with the positive effects that it was giving them in controlling their sugar, they were noticing an unexpected but usually very welcome side effect – they were losing weight and inches around the waistline without even trying. This feedback led the manufacturer of Ozempic to conduct a series of full dual placebo-controlled tests on large samples of people with weight problems, and the results confirmed this anecdotal evidence. GLP-1 has effects other than stimulating insulin and lowering glycogen production. It slows down the emptying of the stomach after eating a meal so that a person feels full for longer and does not eat again too soon. It has a similar effect on the brain, with several positive effects, including suppressing hunger.

Suddenly, in 2020, a few significant bumps in the road slowed down the progress of Ozempic in the new market:

  • The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020-2022 threw the whole healthcare sector into disarray. Pharmaceutical companies were especially hard hit because massive efforts were made to find effective treatments and vaccines to deal with this gigantic problem. 
  • On top of this, the pandemic caused enormous supply-chain disruptions, which meant that drugs could not reach their intended users in good time. This was especially significant for Ozempic, which had to be shipped and held in temperature-controlled environments that were now being held up.
  • As public awareness of the weight-loss effects of Ozempic spread, in many cases due to extensive chatter on popular social platforms like TikTok and Facebook, the worldwide demand for the drug soared far beyond even the most optimistic predictions that the company had made when it planned its production. Supplies ran out everywhere, and there was even the unfortunate situation that diabetic patients weren’t able to fill their prescriptions, forcing them to revert to less effective medications.
  • Since Ozempic had only been approved by the FDA as a treatment for type 2 diabetes, if doctors felt that it served a proper purpose as a weight-loss treatment for non-diabetics, they had to prescribe it as an off-label medication. While this is fully supported in terms of being appropriate medical practice, it automatically excludes reimbursement of the cost by almost all insurance schemes, which meant that patients had to carry the fairly substantial cost themselves.
  • Health insurance companies became extremely wary of paying for claims for Ozempic when it was widely prescribed for weight loss rather than for diabetes. In many cases, the companies made it more difficult even for diabetic patients to be reimbursed for Ozempic.

Phase 3 – Enter Wegovy, the targeted treatment for weight loss

wegovy weight loss pen After extensive trials on overweight and obese patients who did not have diabetes, the evidence was that – GLP-1 is indeed substantially effective in producing weight loss safely and quickly. The trials also showed that the strengths that produced the optimal weight loss results were significantly higher than the original strengths for which Ozempic had been designed. So Novo Nordisk moved to split its offering, retaining Ozempic (with the maximum strength of 1.0 mg per dose) strictly as a treatment for diabetes and bringing Wegovy strictly for weight loss onto the market, with higher doses – either 1.7 mg or 2.4 mg per injection. Besides the higher strength, Wegovy and Ozempic are exactly the same, delivering the tried-and-trusted generic medication semaglutide to treat the specific conditions for which they have been so remarkably successful.

The current situation

Diabetic patients can now rely on Ozempic, for which supplies have stabilized. In early June 2021, the US FDA approved Wegovy (semaglutide) injections of up to 2.4 mg weekly for weight loss in adults who are obese or who are overweight and carry a range of accompanying conditions, such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol, chronic sleep apnea or type 2 diabetes. Slowly, some insurance schemes are starting to add Wegovy into their coverage, recognizing that the long-term patient benefits, seen in terms of health expenditure, outweigh the short-and-medium-term cost of treatment with Wegovy.

There’s another way to get both Ozempic and Wegovy if, for any reason, their cost is not covered by your insurance (or if insurance is not applicable in your case. IsraelPharm can supply both Ozempic and Wegovey in all applicable strengths at substantially lower costs than what US retail pharmacies charge. The table below sets it out in black and white:

Strength US Retail cost Our cost
Ozempic 0.25 mg; 0.5 mg; 1.0 mg $1000 $485
Wegovy 1.7 mg $1650 $575
Wegovy 2.4 mg $1650 $625
Note: These prices were correct on publication in October 2024, and may change over time.

Further savings can be made! First-time users of Wegovy are usually prescribed lower doses in the introductory phase. Typically for weight loss, doctors prescribe 0.25 mg in the first month, 0.5 mg in the second month, 1.0 mg in the third month, and only then the full strength (either 1.7 mg or 2.4 mg) for the remainder of the treatment. In the earlier months, up to strength 1.0 mg, it is common practice to substitute the equivalent dose of Ozempic medications at the required strengths since this represents a substantial saving. You can ask the prescribing doctor to issue the appropriate prescription.

FAQ

How much weight can patients lose in the first three months with Wegovy?

Extensive clinical trials, lasting more than five years, were conducted for weight loss. People taking 1.7 mg and 2.4 mg doses of Wegovy lost between five and fifteen percent of their initial body weight by the end of treatment. 

How long can you stay on Wegovy?

The FDA has approved Wegovy for use for up to 2 years. When combined with healthy dietary habits and moderate exercise, most people have experienced significant long-term benefits.

Is Wegovy good for the heart?

Yes, it has been shown to be beneficial. In addition to helping people lose weight, Wegovy has proven to promote heart health, even in overweight or obese adults with heart disease. Most recently, the FDA has also approved Wegovy to lower the risk of serious cardiovascular problems in this group.

What is the success rate of Wegovy?

In the trials for weight loss, which combined Wegovy with moderate diet and exercise regimes, 83% of the participants who had been taking Wegovy lost five percent or more of their weight. By comparison, less tha one third of the adults taking a placebo lost any weight.

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