Wygovy; Mounjaro; weight loss, and pharmaceutical drugs

The obesity/diabetes drugs, Wygovy, Ozempic, Mounjaro, have become a pharmaceutical best sellers. They are making the drug companies very wealthy! The active ingredient, semaglutide, helps control blood sugar, lowers appetite, and makes patients feel "full". The current claim of medical science is that these semaglutide drugs can lead to weight loss of more than 10%.

Given the burgeoning epidemic of obesity around the world this claim is an attractive one for so many people who find losing weight difficult. The sales of these drugs increased rapidly in 2023 following their promotion by the mainstream media's on behalf of the drug companies. They were "breakthrough" drugs, we were told by all media outlets.

(Have you noticed how little advertising the pharmaceutical industry has to do for itself? A press release usually does it, with the media content to pass on the advertising, free of charge, without any apparent investigation into the claims being made).

The drawbacks of these drugs are already well known:

• When patients stop taking the drug they put this weight back again.
• The drugs are not recommended for more than two years (so they have to be, or should be stopped within that time, making any gains reversible).
• Such are the concerns about these drugs the UK's NHS only prescribe them to patients who fulfil certain criteria, within a limited number of specialist weight-loss management clinics.
• Semaglutide is already known to cause serious side effects, these including anxiety, bloating, nausea, vomiting, blurred vision, confusion, constipation, diarrhoea, depression, fever, headache, indigestion, nightmares, seizures, tightness in the chest, trouble breathing, unusual tiredness or weakness, acid/sour stomach, heartburn, and much more.
  

To date these disadvantages have not slowed down burgeoning sales, especially as some pharmacies are selling them directly to the public, at a monthly cost of around £100 to £200.

Have we been here before?

For anyone who believes they have heard this before, can I refer you to one of my previous blogs, written in March 2018: Acomplia. What happens to all the 'wonder drugs' and 'miracle cure's of conventional medicine?"  Read the blog for a fuller description of events, but broadly this is what happened to Acomplia.

• Acomplia was an obesity drug, approved in 2006, and hailed as a new 'wonder drug'.
• In 2008 the drug was refused a licence in the USA, and withdrawn in the UK and Europe, particularly over fears of serious adverse reactions, particularly depression and suicide.
• The medical science, which had proclaimed this wonder drug, was found to be 'faulty'.
  

         "one study discovered that one-third of people on the drug lost 10% of their body weight, and 60% lost a less impressive 5%. Apparently, what the study did not say was that everyone in the trial was also on a low-calorie diet, and virtually everyone put the weight back on once they stopped taking the drug".

I will copy the conclusion of the Acomplia episode here, and predict (with a high degree of confidence) that this will be the conclusion of Wygovy/Ozempic story within the next few years.

 

"The European Medicines Agency (EMA) commented that the drug had proved less effective in 'real life' than in clinical trials. Patient hopes raised in the 'science' laboratory but dashed in real life. So it had been decided to suspend the licence for Acomplia as:

               "New data from post-marketing experience and ongoing clinical trials indicated that serious psychiatric disorders may be more common than in the clinical trials".

So Acomplia demonstrates better than most pharmaceutical drugs the many aspects of the hopelessness of medical science and drug regulation, which in the interests of selling drugs raise hopes, but lead only to further patient damage.

• The NHS resorts to a drug for a condition that would be better treated via life-style and dietary treatment.
• The drug is significantly less effective than the trials (the medical 'science' funded by the pharmaceutical industry) suggested.
• The full side effects of the drug remain unknown through all the 'scientific' drug testing, the regulator process, the licensing, and the prescription of the drug.
• The side effects turn out to be considerably more serious than the original condition or illness.
• And a drug thought to be unsafe in one country (the USA in this case) is considered to be perfectly 'safe' in others (indeed, most of Europe) - before it is withdrawn there too.

There is no such thing as a wonder drug, or a miracle cure, there never has been, and there probably never will be (on the basis that future performance is best predicted by past performance). So the next time the mainstream media, or your doctor tells you about a remarkable new treatment - run a mile, very, very quickly!"

There are already signs that these drugs will soon have to be withdrawn, with one pharmaceutical consultant saying that Ozempic, "the hot new weight-loss drug", poses medically dangerous gastrointestinal and mental health risks but fails to address the root causes of metabolic conditions.

So I will get back to you when pharmaceutical drug history repeats itself, as it so inevitably does. In the meantime it seems that these new obesity/diabetes drugs are going to cause a lot of patient harm in the years to come.

Post Script 15th May 2024

These obesity drugs just get better and better - according to the drug industry anyway. This is what the Guardian has told us this morning.

 

            "If you hear brand names like Ozempic and Wegovy and think of suddenly gaunt A-listers posing on the red carpet, it is surely now time to think again. There has already been substantial evidence that as well as in their initial role as a diabetes treatment, semaglutides – the kind of drug in question – can have a real impact on obesity for people for whom nothing else works. Now a new study has found that they don’t just help those people lose weight – they have a major effect on their heart health, regardless of how much weight they lose."

 

Yes, another game changer - the best drug, we are reliably informed, since Statins. Heart disease has increased substantially since the introduction of Statin drugs, I suspect semaglutide will now be used for patients of heart disease, and in line with this original blog, I would predict the same outcome. A continuing rise in heart disease (plus an additional problem arising from the adverse drug reactions too, of course).

Postscript

I am not the only blogger who has drawn attention to the dangers of Semaglutide drugs. This article, posted on 13 September 2024 not only outlines the serious adverse reactions these drugs are known to have caused, but also outlines have pharmaceutical interests are now proclaiming that they can do other wonderful things, like slowing down the ageing process, preventing cancer, arthritis, Alzheimers and Parkinson's disease, and help people give up smoking!

There appears to be no end to the pharmaceutical industry hyping its drugs. Do they really still believe what they tell us? Do they remain ignorant of the harm they are causing? Or is it just all about selling drugs and making profits?

Obesity. A new breakthrough treatment? Or the promotion of another failed and unsafe drug with serious known side effects?

Earlier this month another new 'wonder drug' was announced in the mainstream media (MSM), who provide advertising for the pharmaceutical industry, free of charge. BBC News set the general tone with its headline.cons

"Obesity: Appetite drug could mark 'new era' in tackling condition"

The problem with these pharmaceutical news releases, dutifully repeated by the MSM, is that they invariably come to nothing. The 'new era' does not happen.

Nor are the known adverse drug reactions. Perhaps there is a mention of some minor side effects later in the article. The drug referred to here is semaglutide (marketed as Wygovy or Ozempic, et al). It's not a new drug. It has a long list of serious side effects but these are glossed over. On this link there is a clear warning at the top of the page, there are side effects that you need to 'check with your doctor', and a very long list of known adverse reactions that go far beyond the nausea, diarrhoea, vomiting and constipation the BBC article chooses to mention.

But no matter, The intended message is that conventional medicine has discovered yet another new treatment for a very serious problem. We are reminded not only of this, but the fact that obesity can lead to much more serious outcomes, including heart disease, diabetes and severe Covid-19. So provide warnings of the consequences of the condition, whilst emphasising the 'game changing' effects of the drug. It is an advertising strategy designed to produce queues at the doctors surgery.

When this drug strategy works, when or if the obesity epidemic is reduced by semaglutide (Wygogy, Ozempic), I will return to this subject. I will also return to it when (or if) the drug is withdrawn or banned - because it has caused more serious patient harm than even the drug companies are able to justify.

Diabetes and Semaglutide (Mounjaro, Ozempic). Conventional Medicine seeks to revive another dangerous pharmaceutical drug

Diabetes is now running at epidemic levels, and rising. On 1st September 2020 week the UK's NHS suggested that thousands would benefit from a diet of soup and shakes. I was pleased to see this - perhaps yet another recognition by conventional medicine that pharmaceutical drugs had failed, and that the treatment of serious diseases has far simpler, safer, and more natural treatment. 

My pleasure did not last long. The pharmaceutical industry never gives up gracefully! Later, that same day, Pulse, the GP's e-magazine, and Nursing in Practice, proudly announced a new wonder drug, semaglutide.

GP experts welcome ‘game changer’ semaglutide pill for type 2 diabetes

 

One doctor "with a special interest in diabetes" is quoted with this glowing testimonial of these new drug.

               "Oral semaglutide will allow GPs to intensify treatment for people with type 2 diabetes with a GLP-1 RA in a new and novel way. Patients could achieve their target blood sugar with an additional benefit of weight loss with just a tablet. Previously this group of people would have required an injectable GLP-1 RA via specialist referral. This could help to address delays in treatment intensification, improve patient adherence and help patients reach their treatment goals. This is especially important during the Covid-19 pandemic and will ensure those most vulnerable, including people with type 2 diabetes, receive the care they need.NovoNordisk said the drug had the potential to help over 900,000 people in England whose whose blood sugar is above optimum levels (HbA1c >58.5 mmol/mol or 7.5%).

 

But other doctors, apparently, have discovered a problem. Some GP's have warned that 'local prescribing protocols'  may ration the drug because of 'cost concerns'. This is perhaps not too much of a surprise, it is a common problem with all 'wonder drugs'. Once the pharmaceutical industry can convince us that a drug is a 'game changer' they will want to profit from it. Anything wrong with that? Well, not if the drug does what they claim it will do,. But they rarely do so. Drug companies profit for as long as they can, then, once it is discovered the drug has dangerous and harmful side effects, it is quietly dropped.

 

Of course, side effects is another problem, barely mentioned in either Pulse or Nursing in Practice. One doctor is quoted, cautioning that the new drug would also be "troubled by the same gastrointestinal side-effects as others in the class". For conventional medicine to mention publicly, even to the medical profession, that any drug has side effects is unusual; but this heavily discounted warning will just not do.

Semaglutide is NOT a new drug. It was discovered in 2012. Clinical trials began in 2015, and were completed in 2016. It was approved later in the same year. And this 'wonder drug', even after just 5 years, is already known to have serious side effects that go far beyond the gastrointestinal system. Certainly it causes stomach upset, stomach tenderness, stomach fullness, nausea, gaseous abdominal pain, indigestion, etc. But, according to the Drugs.com website, it is also known to cause recurrent fever, yellow eyes or skin, blurred vision, chills and cold sweats, confusion, discouragement, dizziness, fast heartbeat, feeling sad or empty, headache, increased heart rate, increased hunger, irritability, loss of consciousness, loss of interest or pleasure, nervousness, nightmares, seizures, shakiness, slurred speech, tiredness, trouble concentrating, trouble sleeping and unusual tiredness.

Strange that these side effects, some of them extremely serious, are not mentioned by either of these medical magazines. Perhaps even some doctors and nurses, certainly those who do not bother to check for themselves, are not supposed to know - leave alone the patients who will be prescribed the drug. Strange? Yes, but so typical of the conventional medical establishment.