{"id":1129,"date":"2023-04-18T09:11:04","date_gmt":"2023-04-18T09:11:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/?p=1129"},"modified":"2023-04-18T09:11:09","modified_gmt":"2023-04-18T09:11:09","slug":"social-media-is-fueling-enthusiasm-for-new-weight-loss-drugs-are-regulators-watching","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/healthynewsusa.com\/?p=1129","title":{"rendered":"Social Media Is Fueling Enthusiasm for New Weight Loss Drugs. Are Regulators Watching?"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Suzette Zuena is her own best advertisement for weight loss.<\/p>\n

Zuena, the \u201cfounder\/visionary\u201d of LH Spa & Rejuvenation in Livingston and Madison, New Jersey, has dropped 30 pounds. Her husband has lost 42 pounds.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe go out a lot,\u201d Zuena said of the pair\u2019s social routine. \u201cPeople saw us basically shrinking.\u201d They would ask how the couple did it. Her response: Point people to her spa and a relatively new type of medication \u2014 GLP-1 agonists, a class of drug that\u2019s become a weight loss phenomenon.<\/p>\n

But she\u2019s not just spreading her message in person. She\u2019s also doing it on Instagram. And she\u2019s not alone. A chorus of voices is singing these drugs\u2019 praises. Last summer, investment bank Morgan Stanley found mentions of one of these drugs on TikTok had tripled. People are streaming into doctors\u2019 office to inquire about what they\u2019ve heard are miracle drugs.<\/p>\n

What these patients have heard, doctors said, is nonstop hype, even misinformation, from social media influencers. \u201cI\u2019ll catch people asking for the skinny pen, the weight loss shot, or Ozempic,\u201d said Priya Jaisinghani<\/a>, an endocrinologist and clinical assistant professor at New York University\u2019s Grossman School of Medicine.<\/p>\n

Competition to claim a market that could be worth $100 billion a year<\/a> for drugmakers alone has triggered a wave of advertising that has provoked the concern of regulators and doctors worldwide. But their tools for curbing the ads that go too far are limited \u2014 especially when it comes to social media. Regulatory systems are most interested in pharma\u2019s claims, not necessarily those of doctors or their enthused patients.<\/p>\n

Few drugs of this type are approved by the FDA for weight loss \u2014 they include Novo Nordisk\u2019s Wegovy. But after shortages made that treatment harder to get, patients turned to other pharmaceuticals \u2014 like Novo Nordisk\u2019s Ozempic and Eli Lilly\u2019s Mounjaro \u2014 that are approved only for Type 2 diabetes. Those are often used off-label \u2014 though you wouldn\u2019t hear that from many of their online boosters.<\/p>\n

The drugs have shown promising clinical results<\/a>, Jaisinghani and her peers emphasize. Patients can lose as much as 15% of their body weight<\/a>. Novo Nordisk is sponsoring research<\/a> to examine whether Wegovy causes reductions in the rate of heart attacks for patients with obesity.<\/p>\n

The medications, though, come at a high price. Wegovy runs patients paying cash at least $1,305 a month in the Washington, D.C., area, according to a GoodRx search in late March. Insurers only sometimes cover the cost. And patients typically regain much of their lost weight after they stop taking it.<\/p>\n

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Hype Is Driving Demand<\/strong><\/p>\n

But patients are not necessarily coming to doctors\u2019 offices now because of the science. They are citing things they saw on TikTok, like Chelsea Handler<\/a> and other celebrities talking about their injections. It leads to the questions \u201chow come she can get it\u201d and \u201cwhy can I not,\u201d said Juliana Simonetti<\/a>, a physician and co-director of the comprehensive weight management program at the University of Utah.<\/p>\n

The excitement \u2014 which doctors worry may cause some patients to use medications inappropriately \u2014 is coming also from business interests. Some are doctors promoting their venture-capital-backed startups. Others are spas hawking everything from wrinkle-smoothing and lip-plumping to, yes, weight loss benefits of semaglutide, the active ingredient in Wegovy and Ozempic; their prices, often in the hundreds of dollars, are well below what consumers would pay if picking up the prescription at a pharmacy.<\/p>\n

In the U.S., the FDA has oversight over ads from the pharmaceutical industry, which must acknowledge risks and side effects of drugs. But ads from people who write prescriptions don\u2019t necessarily have the same restrictions. FDA regulations apply if the prescriber is working on behalf of a regulated entity, like a pharmaceutical manufacturer or distributor.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe FDA is also committed to working with external partners, including the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), to address concerns with prescription drug marketing practices of telehealth companies on various platforms, including social media,\u201d agency spokesperson Jeremy Kahn emailed KFF Health News.<\/p>\n

Pharma firms run campaigns to educate health care professionals or raise \u201cawareness\u201d that may indirectly tout drugs. Novo Nordisk has an ongoing internet campaign<\/a> to redefine and destigmatize how Americans think of obesity \u2014 and, left unmentioned, the drugs that treat it.<\/p>\n

KFF Health News also found that, beyond the industry group\u2019s examination, at least two other<\/a> entities<\/a> were promoting Novo Nordisk products in the United Kingdom.<\/p>\n

Australian regulators<\/a> have taken down nearly 1,900 ads as of early March for improperly plugging various GLP-1 agonists, an agency spokesperson told KFF Health News. Novo Nordisk says it didn\u2019t put up the ads, the majority of which were for their product Ozempic. The regulators are declining to say who\u2019s involved.<\/p>\n

Doctors are also sounding alarms about the publicity. They believe patients will be driven to use these medications off-label, obtain unreliable forms of these drugs, or exacerbate other health conditions, like eating disorders. The drugs act in part as an appetite suppressant, which can dramatically reduce calorie intake to a concerning degree when not paired with nutritional guidance.<\/p>\n

Elizabeth Wassenaar<\/a>, a regional medical director for the Eating Recovery Center, believes the drugs and associated advertising buildup will inadvertently trigger eating disorders. KFF Health News found ads showing thin patients measuring themselves with a tape measure and stepping on the scale, with accompanying captions goading viewers into going on GLP-1s.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re being marketed very, very pointedly to groups that are vulnerable to experiencing body image dissatisfaction,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Remi Bader, a curve model and TikTok creator specializing in documenting her \u201crealistic\u201d clothing buys, told one podcast<\/a> her story of coming off a \u201cfew months\u201d on Ozempic. She said she gained twice the weight back and that her binge eating disorder got \u201cso much worse.\u201d One study, published in the journal Diabetes, Obesity and Metabolism, found two-thirds of lost weight came back<\/a> after discontinuation of semaglutide.<\/p>\n

But social media users and influencers \u2014 whether with white coats or ordinary patients \u2014 are hopping on every platform to spread news of positive weight loss outcomes. There are those, for instance, who had gastric bypass surgery that didn\u2019t work and are now turning to TikTok for guidance, support, and hope as they begin taking a GLP-1. There\u2019s even a poop-centric Facebook group in which people discuss the sometimes fraught topic of the drugs\u2019 effect on their bowel movements.<\/p>\n

Commercialism and Compounding Spark Excitement and Concern<\/strong><\/p>\n

Some have been so delighted by their medication-assisted weight loss they have become brand ambassadors. Samantha Klecyngier has dropped at least 58 pounds since she started on Mounjaro. She heard of the drug and her telemedicine weight loss program, Sequence<\/a>, on TikTok<\/a>. She and many others who have experienced considerable weight loss since starting the medication regimen point to its positive impact and their improved quality of life. Now she officially promotes the company on the app.<\/p>\n

Though Klecyngier, a mother of two from the Chicago area, is not diabetic, she uses Mounjaro. When she was growing up, her parents had Type 2 diabetes and other chronic diseases that led them both to have open-heart surgery. Her father lost his life to complications of diabetes. She wants to avoid that fate.<\/p>\n

But Klecyngier\u2019s story \u2014 combining a personal journey with a profit-making entity \u2014 is symbolic of another trend on social media: commercialism. There\u2019s a spate of startups eyeing big money matching pharmaceuticals and related support with patients. (Sequence, the company Klecyngier pitches, just got acquired by WW<\/a>, also known as WeightWatchers.)<\/p>\n

Some doctors use social media to educate viewers about the drugs. Michael Albert<\/a>, chief medical officer of telehealth practice Accomplish Health<\/a>, says offering information to his more than 250,000 followers has helped point patients to the medical practice. It\u2019s received thousands of patient inquiries, more than the clinic can take on.<\/p>\n

Companies like Accomplish \u2014 startups with well-credentialed doctors \u2014 are the glossy side of this social media boom.<\/p>\n

But there are others \u2014 like many spas and weight loss centers \u2014 that offer the drugs, sometimes without much medical support, often alongside Botox and dermal fillers. Obesity doctors worry such marketing is creating unrealistic expectations.<\/p>\n

Some spas and telemedicine operators claim to have \u201ccompounded\u201d semaglutide. But compounding \u2014 when pharmacies, rather than drug manufacturers, prepare a drug \u2014 is a risky proposition, doctors caution. \u201cThe risks are enormous,\u201d Simonetti said, warning of potential contamination from poor compounding practices. \u201cThe risks of getting bacteria,\u201d she warned, \u201cthe risks include death.\u201d<\/p>\n

Weight loss clinics also frequently tout unconventional additions to semaglutide, including vitamin B12 and amino acids. Some patients incorrectly believe the former helps with nausea, Jaisinghani said; other clinics tout greater weight loss.<\/p>\n

Novo Nordisk spokesperson Allison Schneider told KFF Health News in an email that the company shares doctors\u2019 concerns about compounding and that it\u2019s begun sending letters warning \u201ccertain Health Care Providers\u201d about the related risks.<\/p>\n

Some operations defend their use of often-cheaper compounded drugs. LH Spa & Rejuvenation, founded by Zuena, offers a compounded semaglutide formulation from QRx Weight Loss<\/a> for $500 over four weeks. The spa learned about the regimen from a doctor. \u201cI\u2019m purchasing it,\u201d Zuena said. \u201cIt comes next-day air in legitimate vials with lot numbers, expirations.\u201d Patients\u2019 injections and dosages are overseen by on-site medical staff.<\/p>\n

Most operators in this burgeoning industry are keen to emphasize their products\u2019 high quality or their company\u2019s good works, as they seek money. Ro, a telehealth firm offering GLP-1s, said its marketing campaign in the New York City subway \u201caims to start an important, sometimes difficult, conversation focused on de-stigmatizing obesity as a condition.\u201d<\/p>\n

This widespread tactic is nothing short of maddening for pharma industry critics. \u201cThey talk about trying to destigmatize obesity at the same time they\u2019re talking about losing weight. They\u2019re co-opting the concept,\u201d said Judy Butler, a research fellow at PharmedOut<\/a>, a Georgetown University Medical Center project focusing on evidence-based practices for drugs. \u201cThey\u2019re trying to sell a weight loss drug.\u201d<\/p>\n