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Video length: 34 min
Special envoy. Slimming: the miracle injection?
Special envoy. Slimming: the miracle injection?
(SPECIAL SENDING / FRANCE 2)
This medication intended for type 2 diabetics is promoted by influencers and stars as a miracle recipe for losing pounds. A potentially dangerous diversion: the demand is such that it endangers the supply of patients, and the health of those who use it without a prescription.
What if it was the miracle recipe for losing weight effortlessly? Initially, Ozempic is a medication intended only for type 2 diabetics. Ultimately, healthy people potentially put themselves in danger after misusing this antidiabetic medication to lose weight. In France, Ozempic, which arrived on the market in 2019, is prescribed to more than 200,000 type 2 diabetics. In the vast majority of cases, this medication has relieved their daily lives as this disease is restrictive. One injection per week is enough to regulate their diabetes.
Ozempic is today a global success, and the Danish laboratory Novo Nordisk – which developed it – is facing supply tensions. Tensions accentuated by misuse of the drug because of its appetite suppressant effect.
On television sets, Hollywood stars have even praised the Ozempic “miracle” for losing their extra pounds. News which then quickly spread via social networks, with Internet users passing on their good deals to obtain the drug secretly. How big is this black market? How far are those who want to lose weight at all costs capable of going? What are the repercussions for type 2 diabetics who really need the medication?
If the small Danish town of Kalundborg, where the active ingredient in Ozempic is manufactured, has benefited from the immense financial benefits of this drug. “Special Envoy” also shows the risks incurred for those who misuse it.
A report by Maureen Alibert, Lucie Rémy, Pierre Duyckaerts, Benjamin Geminel, Alex Gouty, Christophe Astruc and Emmanuel Lejeune / TV Presse Productions, broadcast in “Envoyéspecial” on October 10 2024.
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