Slimming medicine Vegi is now available in Australia.
Wegovy is run as a once-weekly injection and is approved specifically for weight management. It is meant to be used together with a reduced energy food plan and increased physical activity.
So how does Wegovy work, and how much weight are you able to expect to lose while taking it? And what are the potential risks—and costs—for individuals who use it?
Let’s have a look at what science says.
What is Wegovy?
Wegovy is the brand name for the drug semaglutide. Semaglutide is a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA). This means it makes your body’s own hormone glucagon-like peptide-1, or GLP-1 for brief, work higher.
Normally, if you eat, your body releases the hormone GLP-1, which helps signal your brain that you just’re full. Semaglutides enhance this effect, leading to feelings of fullness even if you haven’t eaten anything.
Another role of GLP-1 is to stimulate the body to produce more insulin, a hormone that helps lower blood glucose (sugar) levels. That is why semaglutides are utilized in just a few years in the treatment of type 2 diabetes.
How is Wegovy different from Ozempic?
Like Wegovy, Ozempic is a semaglutide. The way Wegovy and Ozempic work in the body is actually the same. They are manufactured by the same pharmaceutical company, Novo Nordisk.
There are, nevertheless, two differences:
1) They are approved for 2 different (but related) reasons.
In Australia (and the United States) Ozempic is approved to be used to improve blood glucose levels in adults with type 2 diabetes. By effectively managing blood glucose levels, the medicine goals to reduce the risk of great complications comparable to heart disease.
Wegovy is approved to be used together with food plan and exercise for individuals who have a body mass index (BMI) of 30 or more, or 27 or more but produce other health conditions comparable to hypertension.
Wegovy can be utilized in people aged 12 and older. Like Ozempic, Wegovy is designed to reduce the risk of future health complications, including heart disease.
2) Both are injectable but are available in different concentrations.
Ozempic is on the market in disposable pens with pre-filled doses of 0.25 mg, 0.5 mg, 1 mg, or 2 mg per injection. The dose could be slowly increased to a maximum of two mg per week if needed.
Wegovy is on the market in pre-filled disposable pens with doses of 0.25 mg, 0.5 mg, 1 mg, 1.7 mg, or 2.4 mg. Treatment is initiated at a dose of 0.25 mg once per week for 4 weeks, after which the dose is steadily increased to a maintenance dose of two.4 mg per week.
While it’s unknown what impact the introduction of Wegovy can have on the availability of Ozempic, Ozempic continues to be available It is predicted that there might be few of them until the end of 2024.
Is Wegovy effective for weight reduction?
Considering that Wegovy is a semaglutide, there’s very strong evidence can assist people reduce weight and keep it off.
Recent test found that over 4 years, participants taking Wevovy as directed experienced a mean weight reduction of 10.2% of their body weight and a discount in waist circumference of seven.7 cm.
Analyses showed that individuals who stopped taking the drug lost about two-thirds of their weight. recovered.
What are the unwanted side effects of Wegova?
Most common unwanted side effects there’s nausea and vomiting.
However, other serious unwanted side effects are also possible due to the drug’s effects on the entire body. Thyroid tumors and cancer have been identified as risks in animal studies, but are rare in humans. scientific literature.
In the four-year-old Wegovy test16.6% of participants who received Wegovy (1,461 people) experienced an adversarial event that led to everlasting discontinuation of the drug. This was higher than 8.2% of participants (718 people) who received placebo (no energetic ingredient).
Side effects included gastrointestinal upset (including nausea and vomiting), which occurred in 10% of individuals taking Wegovy compared with 2% of individuals taking placebo.
Gallbladder dysfunction occurred in 2.8% of individuals taking Wegovy and 2.3% of individuals taking placebo.
Recently, there have been concerns about suicidal thoughts and behaviors, global evaluation greater than 36 million adversarial event reports related to the use of semaglutide (Ozempic or Wegovy) since 2000 were reviewed.
There were 107 reports of suicidal thoughts and self-harm amongst people taking semaglutide, including, unfortunately, six actual deaths. When people stopped taking the drug, 62.5% said the thoughts stopped. We do not know if the dose, weight reduction, previous mental health conditions or use of antidepressants played a job.
There are also growing concerns about the negative impact of semaglutide on our social and emotional relationships with food. Thematic AND scientific evidence suggests that individuals taking semaglutide significantly reduce their every day food intake (as expected), skipping meals and avoiding social gatherings – which isn’t very nice for people and their family members.
How can I access Wegovy?
Wegovy could be purchased at a pharmacy with a prescription from a health care provider.
But there’s a high price. Wegovy is currently not subsidized through the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, leaving patients to bear the cost. The current cost is estimated at around 460 Australian dollars monthly dose.
If you’re considering Wegovy, arrange Consult your doctor for individual advice.