This is what you should know about Wegovy

The drug Wegovy has received a lot of publicity since it was launched by Novo Nordisk.

But what is medicine against obesity and Wegovy in general?

What does it contain, how does it work and are there any side effects?

And what should you keep in mind if you are considering taking medicines for severe obesity yourself?

We will try to give you an answer to that here.

What are anti-obesity drugs?

In recent years, a number of drugs against severe obesity have come on the market, developed by pharmaceutical companies.

They have been popularly dubbed obesity medicine.

In short, it is medicine that helps you lose weight.

At the moment there are relatively few on the market, but that will change in the coming years as more new drugs are on the way.

What is Wegovy?

Wegovy is one particular type of medicine approved for the treatment of severe obesity, and probably the most talked about medicine at the moment.

Wegovy was developed by Novo Nordisk, and was approved for sale in the US in 2021.

In December 2022, Denmark became the second country in the world to approve the sale of Wegovy.

Wegovy is an 'offspring' of another drug called Ozempic.

Ozempic, which contains the active substance semaglutide, was introduced by Novo Nordisk as a diabetes medicine in 2018.

Soon after, it was found that the medicine had a positive side effect in many of the diabetic patients who took it:

They lost weight.

Wegovy is based on the same substance found in Ozempic, but in a stronger dose.

How much weight can you lose with Wegovy?

Wegovy is always given along with advice on lifestyle changes that can affect one's weight loss.

This is because a healthy diet and exercise in particular have an influence on whether you achieve the maximum effect on weight loss when using Wegovy.

Previous studies, which also included lifestyle advice, have shown that obese people lose an average of 17% of their weight after one year of using Wegovy,

It is probably impossible to answer exactly how much weight the individual can lose, but in general you can say that:

Taking Wegovy, most people are likely to lose weight

If at the same time you manage to eat healthy and exercise regularly in everyday life, the weight loss will very likely be greater and happen faster

A healthy lifestyle also has the added bonus of reducing one's risk of a wide range of cardiovascular diseases.

That is why the Heart Association also primarily recommends healthy lifestyle habits.

And that you consider Wegovy and other anti-obesity medicines as a supplement to a healthy lifestyle if you have difficulty losing weight.

How does Wegovy work?

Wegovy contains an active substance called semaglutide, which belongs to the group of medicines called GLP-1 agonists.

It acts on the body as a satiety hormone that is normally produced in the small intestine.

Semaglutide decreases appetite, reduces your energy intake, and reduces the preference for high-fat foods.

The consequence is that your feeling of satiety increases, you eat less and therefore lose weight.

How to take Wegovy?

Wegovy is currently available as pens, which you inject under the skin on, for example, the stomach once a week.

In the long term, it will probably also be possible to take Wegovy in pill form.

When you start taking Wegovy, there is a start-up period of 16 weeks, during which your dose is gradually increased.

For a start, you will have to take doses of 0.25 mg, 0.5 mg and 1.00 mg.

After this, the dose is increased to 1.7 mg, and when the start-up period is over, one's dose is increased to 2.4 mg.

This is the recommended weekly maintenance dose to be taken while using Wegovy.

Are there side effects of Wegovy?

There are always side effects when taking medication, and this is also the case when using semaglutide.

The most frequently reported side effects of Wegovy are symptoms from the gastrointestinal tract.

These are symptoms such as nausea, diarrhoea, abdominal pain, constipation and vomiting.

However, the symptoms are usually mild and transient, and disappear over time in most people.

There may also be a slight increase in one's heart rate.

However, the increase does not seem to increase the risk for heart patients, according to the Norwegian Heart Association's head of research, Gunnar Gislason.

And as with all other medicines, it must be considered from person to person whether the positive effects outweigh any side effects.

The experience and inconvenience of side effects also vary from person to person.

However, semaglutide, the active substance in Wegovy, has been used in the treatment of diabetes for a long time, and its safety is now well documented.

The small increase in heart rate that may occur does not immediately appear to increase the risk of heart problems either.

However, it must also be said that preparations such as Wegovy are still new, and the long-term effects in people without diabetes are therefore not yet known.

Can I get a grant for Wegovy?

Currently, it is not possible to get a subsidy for Wegovy, so you have to pay for it yourself.

However, a doctor can apply for a single subsidy.

Can I buy Wegovy at the pharmacy?

Only if you have a prescription from your doctor.

Wegovy is not an over-the-counter medicine that you can walk in off the street and buy.

It must be prescribed for you by your doctor after a consultation.

Therefore, you should always contact your doctor first if you want to know more about Wegovy.

Who does the doctor prescribe Wegovy for?

As of March 2023, the Danish Health Authority has approved treatment with Wegovy if:

You have a BMI (Body Mass Index) of at least 30 or

You have a BMI between 27-30 and at the same time at least one risk factor, such as: Prediabetes, type 2 diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, sleep apnea or cardiovascular disease

BMI is a practical measure of a person's weight in relation to height.

You can calculate your own BMI here.

BMI is used to assess the degree of underweight and overweight in adults (18 years or older).

BMI is the best method for assessing overweight in a population of people, but is not necessarily the best measure for the individual.

BMI does not take into account the distribution between muscle and fat.

Very short people or very muscular people can be wrongly classified as obese based on BMI despite having normal fat mass.

Therefore, other methods are also used to assess the amount of body fat, including waist-hip measurements and bathroom scales with body analysis.

Waist measurement and waist-hip measurement can tell something about how much fat there is around the stomach (abdominal fat), while a bathroom scale with body analysis can estimate fat mass and fat percentage.

Do you have to take Wegovy for life?

You don't necessarily need to take Wegovy all your life.

If you stop taking Wegovy, however, you should be prepared that you will probably gain some of the weight back.

The effect of the semaglutide that your body gets through the medicine will disappear, and the natural appetite will increase again.

Preliminary studies also show that there is a need for lifelong treatment with Wegovy if you want to maintain your entire weight loss.

It is therefore important that you incorporate healthy habits around diet and exercise together with starting Wegovy, and maintain the habits when you stop.

Does the Heart Association recommend obesity medication for heart patients?

The Heart Association primarily recommends exercise and a healthy, varied diet as a remedy for obesity.

But there may be cases where the excess weight can be so difficult to get rid of that other measures are needed.

In these cases, semaglutide may be a possible additional intervention.

The Norwegian Heart Association always welcomes new medicines with proven efficacy.

And the fact that it has now been shown that semaglutide – in addition to having a positive effect on diabetes – can have a positive effect on obesity is gratifying.

On the basis of current research, there are also no significant heart risks with the medicine, which give cause for concern.

And if there is a concrete and individual assessment that the heart patient can benefit from it, the Heart Association is open to it.