Semaglutide, available as Ozempic and Wegovy, has been hailed as a monumental breakthrough in the war on obesity.
But there have been growing concerns about the number of healthy weight and underweight patients taking them for cosmetic reasons.
Now, the drug is attracting fresh attention after Lottie Moss today revealed she was rushed to hospital after suffering an Ozempic overdose using too high a dosage.
The model, 26, was violently ill, had a seizure and was severely dehydrated taking the drug when she weighed around 60kg — just 9 stone.
She was given the jab by a friend who bought it under the counter from a doctor, she claimed.
The drug is attracting fresh attention after Lottie Moss today revealed she was rushed to hospital after suffering an Ozempic overdose using too high a dosage
Here, we reveal how the jab — when misused — can wreak havoc on the body within just minutes of injecting, leaving some users at risk of a coma.
Ozempic spurs on weight loss by mimicking the actions of a hormone released in the gut after eating, called GLP-1.
As well as telling the pancreas to make more insulin, the GLP-1 hormone feeds back to the brain and makes users feel full.
As a result, semaglutide can stop users from over-eating.
But it is not without side effects, with users commonly complaining of nausea, constipation and diarrhoea after taking the medication.
Unlike the GLP-1 hormone, which is rapidly metabolized by the body, semaglutide has a much longer half-life, meaning the medication can build up inside the body if not enough time elapses between doses.
Lottie’s relationship with Kate became fractured after she started to model for OnlyFans but they have recently rekindled, celebrating their father’s 80th birthday together last week
This triggers an Ozempic overdose. There is limited data available on the how deadly one can be.
But, according to case reports, signs of semaglutide overdose can resemble those of potentially-fatal hypoglycemia, also known as dangerously low blood sugar.
Symptoms can begin with increased heart rate, sweating, dizziness and irritability. Most symptoms ‘last for days’, according to one report, published in the Journal of the American Pharmacists’ Association.
Without rapid treatment, patients experience confusion, delirium and, eventually, lose consciousness, sometimes slipping into a coma.
To reduce the risk of side-effects, people usually start with 0.25 mg for the first four weeks and gradually increase the dose.
Ozempic is not available on the NHS specifically for weight loss, but is to help control blood sugar in type 2 diabetes patients.
But another semaglutide drug — Wegovy which like Ozempic is manufactured by Novo Nordisk — was approved last year for weight loss in those with body fat-related health problems.
Semaglutide, the powerful ingredient behind Ozempic, spurs weight loss by mimicking the actions of a hormone released in the gut after eating, called GLP-1
It is difficult to overdose using the official Ozempic pens, made by the Danish pharmaceutical giant, because once the dose has been set — usually by a doctor — you cannot change it.
This helps to avoid any accidental overdoses, although patients can still access pens with an automatic dose that is too high.
Compounded versions made by pharmacies are often distributed in glass vials — with patients then asked to fill syringes themselves.
This makes it ‘easy’ to overdose, said Dr Joseph Lambson, the director of the New Mexico Poison and Drug Information Center said last year.
Speaking on her podcast, Lottie said she weighed approximately 60 kilos before she dropped to 57 following her first dose and was 53 kilos at her lowest, which is just over eight stone
‘I think that whenever we have to rely on a patient to discern what the right dose is, to draw up and then administer, you’re putting more chances in there for there to be errors,’ he added.
Although trials haven’t been done on people who are a healthy weight, there is also anecdotal evidence that they might be more at risk.
Dr Vicky Price, from the Society for Acute Medicine, told this website in July that there had been a ‘real increase’ in the number of people misusing the drug coming to hospital with vomiting, diarrhoea and dehydration.
It comes as Lottie Moss today revealed she would rather ‘die’ than use Ozempic again.
Her sister, supermodel Kate Moss, 50, was poster girl for ‘heroin chic’ in the 1990s due to her slim frame and once famously declared, ‘nothing tastes as good as skinny feels.’
Speaking on her podcast Dream On, Lottie claimed the seizure, caused by severe dehydration, was one of the ‘scariest’ experiences she has ever endured.
She also said there were, ‘small things I wish I’d known before taking it’ and revealed her weight plummeted from 60kg — giving her a healthy BMI of around 21 — to 53kg in just two weeks.
After rushing to hospital, the podcaster learned the dosage of Ozempic she was injecting into her leg should be prescribed to someone weighing at least 100 kilos — nearly double her size.
The OnlyFans star said: ‘When I was taking it, the amount that I was taking was meant for people who are 100 kilos and over and I’m in the 50s range.
‘It’s these small things I wish I’d known before taking it. But I took it, you inject it into your leg, and it was the worst decision I ever made.
‘This is a warning to everyone. Please, if you’re thinking of taking it, do not take it, it’s so not worth it.’
She added: ‘I started at about 60 kilos, and I went down to 57 with the first dose, then I went down to 54.
‘It was crazy, my lowest was 53. In terms of a few weeks, that’s not a healthy weightloss, not a healthy drop.
‘When I was in bed for those two days and it was at the end of it and I just wanted to come off it, because it’s not like you can stopping taking it, it’s not like a pill that you don’t take when you wake up in the morning, it’s in your system and it’s there.’
Lottie has spoken in the past about growing up in the ‘toxic’ fashion industry and the time she spent in rehab following drug addiction.
She started modelling aged 16 after being scouted when she was 13 and said she always felt like she was living in sister Kate’s shadow.
Eligibility criteria for people wanting the get Wegovy on the NHS — for the standard prescription rate of £9.90 in England — is strict.
It is only available if diet and exercise have not worked on their own, you have health problems caused by your weight, such as diabetes or high blood pressure, and have a BMI of 35 or more.