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.

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.

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.