Should everyone be taking Ozempic? Doctors say more could benefit

Should Ozempic be added to the water supply? That is the kind of half-joking question that doctors kick around when a new class of drugs begins to help a big chunk of the population.

- Peter Loftus

Should Ozempic be added to the water supply? That is the kind of half-joking question that doctors kick around when a new class of drugs begins to help a big chunk of the population. Cardiologists used to quip about spiking water systems with cholesterol-reducing statins because of their ability to prevent heart attacks.

Now, Ozempic and others in the "GLP-1" category of drugs are showing promise for an ever-expanding list of diseases, beyond today's most common uses of weight loss and treating diabetes. Heart, kidney and liver diseases. Sleep apnea. Arthritis. Alzheimer's disease. Alcohol addiction. Even aging. Some of these are potential benefits that need further study.

"It is getting to the point of wondering what GLP-1 agonists aren't good for," pharmaceutical researcher and blogger Derek Lowe wrote in the academic journal Science last year.

If this trajectory continues, doctors say millions more people would benefit from them—maybe even one-third to a majority of adults.

But they also caution about use of the drugs in people who don't medically fit the bill because it could cause malnourishment. Doctors would have to figure out ways to guard against excessive weight loss in people who aren't overweight, perhaps putting them on special diets, said Dr. Scott Isaacs, an endocrinologist in Atlanta.

The drugs—which also include Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound—mimic naturally occurring gut hormones such as GLP-1. The medicines promote production of insulin, which helps control blood-sugar levels in people with Type 2 diabetes. They suppress appetite and make people feel full faster when eating, helping overweight people lose many pounds.

In diabetes and obesity alone, the eligible patient population is huge. More than 100 million American adults—or 40%—have obesity. About 38 million have diabetes.