About 20% of former Ozempic and Wegovy users regain weight: new study
Is it over for Ozempic?
A new study shows that, in certain cases, about one in five patients are unable to keep off the weight they lost with help from the drug.
A report published on Epic Research found that users of diabetes medications like Ozempic and Wegovy — which exploded in popularity by doubling as a weight-loss aid — found that 17.7% regained all of their weight, if not more, after they stopped taking it.
The 20,274 studied patients — observed a year after halting use — each lost at least 5 pounds while on drugs like the semaglutide Ozempic.
Similarly, 18.7% experienced the same from liraglutide injections like Saxenda.
“The weight started coming on like never before,” former Wegovy user Artemis Bayandor, 41, told The Messenger.
![About a fifth of patients who stop using drugs like Ozempic regain weight, according to new research.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/Obesity_Drugs_Suicide_Risk_54029-f824e.jpg?w=1024)
Since initially dropping 15 pounds before quitting, she reached her heaviest point at 246 pounds and had an extremely aggressive appetite — something the medications work to suppress.
“I was insatiable. And I’ve never been that way. I was so hungry. It was crazy the way it felt,” she added.
“It was awful, it’s still awful.”
However, a two-thirds majority of users who stopped for a year on either a semaglutide or liraglutide were able to continue the weight loss initiated while on the shots, the research shows.
Also, 56.2% of patients managed to maintain the same weight at the time of quitting or continued to lose as well.
![Still, a majority of users keep weight off, the study showed.](https://nypost.com/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2024/01/AdobeStock_110430731.jpg?w=1024)
Of the 17,733 studied individuals who lost at least 5 pounds on liraglutide before stopping use, 55.7% remained the same weight or continued to shed pounds.
Unrelated research also recently uncovered that Ozempic might double as a liver cancer preventative for certain diabetes patients.