Inside Canada’s Ozempic craze

In today’s Big Story podcast, if you’ve watched TV or attended a sporting event recently, chances are you’ve seen an ad for Ozempic.

Originally created to treat Type-2 Diabetes, the drug is now most commonly used for weight loss, and it’s become so popular that some places in Canada have had to ban Americans from crossing the border to get it. And that isn’t the only controversy associated with the medication, which has intensified an age old debate about obesity, how it’s defined, and how doctors should treat it.

Carly Weeks is a health reporter at The Globe and Mail, she joins us to explain some of the controversy surrounding Ozempic, and who can currently get access to the drug in Canada.

“If we were talking about a medication that helped lower people’s blood pressure, I don’t think we’d see as much interest in the salacious coverage, as we’re seeing with Ozempic,” she said.

So should insurance companies cover obesity and weight loss drugs? Should doctors differentiate between people who have serious health concerns, and those who may just want to drop 20 pounds? And how do we provide treatment to those who need it without further stigmatizing people who may not fit within societies narrow definition of what the ‘ideal’ body looks like?

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