What is Ozempic used for? Ozempic is taken as once-weekly injection to manage blood glucose levels and HbA1c in people with type 2 diabetes. As a GLP-1 analogue medication, it increases the levels of incretins – a hormone – which helps your body to produce more insulin when needed.

Ozempic® is supplied as a clear, colourless, or almost colourless solution for injection in a pre-filled pen. Each pen contains 3 mL of solution delivering only doses of 1 mg. One mL solution for injection contains 1.34 mg semaglutide. One pre-filled pen contains 4 mg semaglutide.

Ozempic is not insulin but is a different type of diabetes medicine called GLP-1. It is a small protein like insulin (called a peptide) and because proteins are easily broken down by stomach acids, which would make the protein inactive, both insulin and Ozempic (Semaglutide) need to be injected under the skin.

The active substance in Ozempic, semaglutide, is a 'GLP-1 receptor agonist'. It acts in the same way as GLP-1 (a hormone produced in the gut) by increasing the amount of insulin that the pancreas releases in response to food.

Are there benefits to taking Ozempic for weight loss? Ozempic can help people lose weight, which can reduce the risk for many other serious health conditions, such as heart problems. Semaglutide treatments can also be used as an alternative to bariatric surgery for some patients who are obese.

“Overall, Ozempic is a very safe medication,” explains Dr. McGowan. “The most common side effects are gastrointestinal in nature: nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and constipation.”

Experts still recommend that people avoid using Ozempic unless they have type 2 diabetes. Instead, talk to your health care provider about starting Wegovy for weight loss.

Ozempic® can lower the risk of major cardiovascular events, such as stroke, heart attack, or death in adults with type 2 diabetes and known heart disease. Ozempic® may help you lose some weight. Ozempic® is not for weight loss. While taking Ozempic®, you may experience some side effects.

Ozempic (semaglutide) belongs to a class of drugs called glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) analogs. Ozempic is used as an add-on to diet and exercise in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus to help improve control of their blood sugar levels (glycemic control).

Insulin is a hormone that tells cells in the body to absorb glucose, or sugar, from the blood. If the body doesn't use it well, that sugar stays in the blood, resulting in high blood sugar levels. Ozempic works by mimicking a hormone in the body that regulates insulin levels. It's a type of drug called a GLP-1 agonist.

Ozempic works by mimicking a naturally occurring hormone. As those hormone levels rise, the molecules go to your brain, telling it you're full. It also slows digestion by increasing the time it takes for food to leave the body. This is similar to the effect of bariatric surgery.

But Ozempic's rise to superstardom status was not something most people predicted. In fact, the drug was created by Novo Nordisk to help diabetes patients control their blood sugar. But the drug's side effect of rapid weight loss quickly stole headlines and made Ozempic a very hot commodity.

Drugs like semaglutide - better known as Ozempic or Wegovy - could be lifelong treatments for obesity, but what little data scientists have suggests that people don't stick with them for long.

There are some negative implications of Ozempic, particularly its correlation with various health factors, including, thyroid cancer, pancreatitis, and pancreatic cancer, hypoglycemia risks, acute kidney injury occurrences, gallbladder events, gastrointestinal disturbances, and cardiovascular effects.

But Ozempic's rise to superstardom status was not something most people predicted. In fact, the drug was created by Novo Nordisk to help diabetes patients control their blood sugar. But the drug's side effect of rapid weight loss quickly stole headlines and made Ozempic a very hot commodity.

Ozempic is similar to insulin in that it is injectable. However, unlike insulin, Ozempic is a once-a-week injection. It's also different in that only people with type 2 diabetes can take Ozempic. People with type 1 diabetes should not take Ozempic, but they will benefit from taking insulin.