Exploring Access and Prescriptions for Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, and Zepbound in Your Weight Loss Journey
In this article, you'll get:
In a significant development for patients battling obesity and diabetes, four key medications - Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro, and Zepbound - have emerged as frontrunners. How to get these drugs have become a topic for many weight loss warriors. But first things first, we need to know all these four drugs are prescription medications. This means you need to consult with a healthcare provider to get a prescription.
The criteria: treating diabetes or weight management?
As many of you may or may not know, not all four of these drugs are approved for weight management purpose:
Only Wegovy and Zepbound are approved for weight management. The FDA clearly stated:
“Wegovy Injection is approved to help adults and children aged 12 years and older with obesity or some adults with excess weight (overweight), who also have weight related medical problems, to lose weight and keep the weight off, in addition to diet and exercise.”
The recently approved Zepbound has a similar statement from FDA.
An adult.
Have obesity, aka a body mass index >= 30 (BMI)
Or have overweight, aka BMI >=27 with at least one weight-related condition (e.g., high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes or high cholesterol).
So, if you are not meeting such criteria, generally you won’t get a prescription from your doctor. Of course, off-label use of Ozempic and Mounjaro for weight management, or diabetes diagnosis fraud are not included in our discussion.
What’s the general steps to get Wegovy or Zepbound?
Regardless their zeal around the country, both Wegovy and Zepbound are prescription medications, so getting them is no different than your other prescriptions:
Talk to your healthcare provider. They will evaluate your medical history, current health status, and whether Wegovy or Zepbound is an appropriate treatment option for you.
The process might involve a detailed assessment of your body mass index (BMI) and any related health conditions. It may also involve the discussion of the potential benefits and risks of the medication, including its side effects.
In many occasions, you doctors, or health insurance will ask you to participate in certain weigh management programs first before they prescribe you the super star medications. Why? They are short of supply and cost a lot to your health insurance-- if they cover it for you.
Once a doctor prescribes you the medication, you will typically receive the medication through a pharmacy.
Watch out for online prescribers!
As we know, the demand for Wegovy and Zepbound is so high, and people are looking for every possible solution to get it. So you might find online prescribers claiming that they can get you such drugs, or its “equivalent” much faster and cheaper. But be really careful here.
If you type “get Wegovy” in Google search bar, the sponsored results will reveal a lot of them. What’s their deal?
They usually tell you they can get you GLP-1 drugs, Semaglutide (active ingredients in Wegovy), or Tirzepatide (active ingredients in Zepbound) for only a third even half of the price.
Instead of going to your doctor, they let you fill in a questionnaire, plus some at-home baseline tests. Then their provider will prescribe their medication.
Such medication might be dispensed from their partnered pharmacies, a lot of times they are compounding pharmacies. There are a lot of issues and concerns about compounded Semaglutide and Tirzepatide. I will discuss that in another article.