MORE expensive and addictive than cocaine, and injected like heroin, it is the new Hollywood recreational drug du jour.
Introducing Ozempic, the “miracle” fat-loss jab now hitting the UK.
SuppliedClemmie Moodie tried the Ozempic fat jab, which is popular among celebrities[/caption]
ShutterstockOzempic is not meant to be taken by anyone who doesn’t have type 2 diabetes or is not at risk[/caption]
So in demand is semaglutide — an insulin-stimulating drug originally used to treat Type 2 diabetics, and the key ingredient to weight-loss injections — demand is now heavily outweighing supply.
But as our investigation shows, it is not the morbidly obese or vulnerably ill who are religiously injecting themselves in the belly, it’s the rich, famous and already very, very skinny.
As one bona fide British actress told me at an event this week in West Hollywood: “I’m pretty open about my life on TikTok and Instagram, but going public with Ozempic is a hard no.
“If people knew me and so many of my friends were on this stuff, we’d be cancelled in a heartbeat.
“It’s depriving people of medication in the name of vanity.
“But it makes me feel good, and no director wants a fat leading lady.
“For the first time I’m not obsessing over food.
“In a looks-obsessed industry, it’s a game changer.
“And that’s the reality.”
Black market trading is on the up, with (unethical) private doctors getting a mark-up on every batch sold, while online pharmacies are selling out with unscrupulous checks.
Anyone and everyone in Los Angeles is on the stuff and has been since it started getting traction in 2018 following approval from the Food and Drug Administration agency.
Can’t stop burping
So any celeb who’s mysteriously lost weight over the past five years . . . Yeah, that won’t just be “running after the kids”, “gallons of Fijian mineral water” or, even, a Peloton addiction.
I’ll let you do the celebrity maths.
Kim Kardashian is rumoured to have used the jab simply for weight loss purposesINSTAGRAM/KIM KARDASHIAN
At present, reality star Kim Kardashian, comedienne Chelsea Handler and tech billionaire Elon Musk have all been publicly linked to semaglutide, with the latter pair both officially coughing to it.
Kim, meanwhile, remains mysteriously mute.
Our own Jeremy Clarkson is also on it but not because he wants to squeeze into a LBD.
So how easy is it to get this injectable drug?
Very if you’re uber-wealthy or connected.
Or a good liar.
After filling in health forms on an online pharmacy in the UK, stating I was 5ft 2in and 8st 10lb, a message popped up saying I wasn’t suitable for prescription. Ie. Not fat enough.
Half an hour later, back online, I adjusted my weight to 19st 10lb stone.
Bingo.
I was clinically obese, and in.
So despite exercising at least four times a week, and being a perfectly healthy size 10, within 48 hours a batch of Saxenda, another brand name (alongside others including Mounjaro, Wegovy or Rybelus) was on my doorstep, packaged in an ice box.
Over in LA, the process is more complicated.
And a lot more expensive.
For celebs, it’s a case of who you know, with private doctors providing the stuff through a friend (so there’s no recourse), for a staggering £1,200 for one month’s supply.
Health insurance covers the drugs for the genuinely obese, or diabetic, otherwise it’s a case of more subterfuge.
So, from the comfort of my hotel room, I filled in yet more forms — this time giving a fictitious LA-based doctor’s details, as well as the usual age, date of birth, weight and medical history.
I was asked to scan over some picture ID and then — horror of all horrors — have an online consultation with a “doctor”.
A quick pillow up the jumper, and an “I have a deceptively thin face”, and problem solved.
Over on TikTok, the hashtag #Ozempic has been viewed more than 888million times.
People are alternately expressing shock over their weight loss or/and swapping horror stories about the side-effects.
These include sickness, diarrhoea, constipation, exhaustion, excessive burping and, now, hair loss.
Day one on my Saxenda jab doesn’t go to plan when I don’t remove the plastic cap containing the needle and spray semagultide all over the cap.
It feels odd needlessly pinching skin to inject something foreign into my body.
I don’t love it, but feel fine — and later notice I leave some lunch on my plate — unheard of.
Similarly, at dinner I just have salmon and some steamed veg.
I feel like Victoria Beckham.
Day two goes similarly well, and for once I’m not constantly thinking about my next meal.
It’s liberating.
Then things start to go badly wrong.
I’m utterly exhausted and after dragging myself to the gym, I immediately go back to bed and snooze.
I wake myself up, retching.
I am physically sick FIVE times over the next two hours.
It feels like norovirus and I spend the rest of the afternoon either vomming or sleeping.
But if my colleagues can bravely report on the front line in Ukraine, hold ministers to account in Westminster and expose bloody crimes, I can keep jabbing in the name of looking like Kim Kardashian.
Minus the arse and face.
The next day I am sick three times and — attractively — can’t stop burping.
That night I go for dinner and drinks and get hammered because I’ve barely eaten for two days, and then feel incredibly sick, either because of the booze, or the jab, it’s hard to tell.
The next day I bruise my tummy after, foolishly jabbing in the same spot every morning.
And the fetching burps haven’t gone away.
But the nadir comes when I go for a run on the treadmill and, out of nowhere, start to dry heave.
People are looking at me in disgust as I flail about, trying hard not to projectile vomit.
I am sick into my hand towel.
By the end of the week my stomach is noticeably leaner and my clothes are all fitting better.
One or two people comment.
For a second I forget about the treadmill vom and norovirus and consider finishing the course.
I lost 5lb in eight days.
But vain as I am, I’m not quite insane enough to put my body through it any more.
According to the medication’s own disclaimer, around ten per cent of users experience side-effects.
Chatting, anecdotally, to those I know who are on it, this figure seems suspiciously low.
But who knows.
Google searches have gone through the roof on both sides of the pond after Wegovy was approved for use on the NHS last month.
Semaglutide works by lowering blood sugar levels and regulating insulin.
The drug also imitates the hormone glucagon-like peptide-1 which we produce in our intestines, limiting appetite by signalling to our bodies that we feel full.
Trials found those on it lost around 12 per cent of their body weight and slashed their odds of getting Type 2 diabetes by more than half.
‘Drug firms winners’
US reality stars Patrik Simpson and Pol Atteu, who host Amazon Prime fashion show Gown And Out In Beverly Hills and podcast Undressed with Pol’ and Patrik on Apple, Spotify and YouTube, readily admit to being part of the Ozempic craze.
Three months ago Patrik weighed 15st 5lb and today he is 13st.
BackGridUS reality stars Patrik Simpson and Pol Atteu created the Undressed with Pol’ and Patrik’ podcast available on all major platforms[/caption]
Pol has lost 30lb since being on it, he says.
Alarmingly, Patrik admits a recent blood test and medical showed he had swollen kidneys – a result, perhaps, of the jab.
It has not deterred him.
Patrik, 52, says: “ I sometimes dry heave, but that passes after a few minutes.
“It’s a small price to pay.
“I’ve gone from a 37in to a 31in waist.
“We have a WhatsApp group with our doctor called The Skinny Bitches Club, and I keep adding friends who want to get in on it.
“Maybe I am cheating, but I am doing something good for me.
“It’s improved my mental health as well as my physical health.”
Adds Pol, 57: “But yes, we are hooked.
“At parties now everyone is saying how this drug is more addictive than cocaine — and a hell of a lot more expensive.
“Sure, people don’t want to see our guts on TV, but we are doing this for us and no one else.”
A private nurse practitioner, based in Nevada, US — who is unwilling to be named on the record — admits to dishing out the jabs to some of her patients.
She says: “It is subjective whether it is ethically correct.
“But from a medical standpoint, doctors are using the drug ‘off label’ — ie. for its side-effects (weight loss) rather than for its primary source.
“The drug companies are the winners as their profits are linked to volume sales.
“In the last couple of years there have been shortages of common medications, so an increase of patients using Ozempic for non-diabetes purposes could well impact the supply for people who genuinely need the medication.”
She’s right.
A cursory Google search back home shows that Ozempic is now “currently out of stock” everywhere.
Sure, annoying for the rich, famous and already body-beautiful.
Potentially devastating for those who actually need it.
GettyElon Musk has confessed to having used Ozempic as a means of losing weight[/caption]
GettyComedian Chelsea Handler has also come clean about her use of the jab[/caption] Read More