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What is Ozempic?

What is Ozempic, and how does it work?

Ozempic (semaglutide, diabetes label) is a injection made by Novo Nordisk, whose active ingredient is semaglutide. FDA approved for type 2 diabetes: glycemic control, cardiovascular risk reduction, and kidney outcomes. Weight loss is off-label use. The same molecule as Wegovy, described by its diabetes label: it stimulates insulin and suppresses glucagon, both only when blood glucose is high. In its pivotal trial it produced 12% mean weight loss. It costs $199 a month once titrated, a figure read from the seller's own page on 2026-06-10 — the maintenance rate rather than the starting dose, because the starting dose is not the dose anyone stays on.

How it works, from the label

The same molecule as Wegovy, described by its diabetes label: it stimulates insulin and suppresses glucagon, both only when blood glucose is high.

Semaglutide is a GLP-1 analogue with 94% sequence homology to human GLP-1. Semaglutide acts as a GLP-1 receptor agonist that selectively binds to and activates the GLP-1 receptor, the target for native GLP-1. Semaglutide reduces blood glucose through a mechanism where it stimulates insulin secretion and lowers glucagon secretion, both in a glucose-dependent manner. Thus, when blood glucose is high, insulin secretion is stimulated, and glucagon secretion is inhibited.

Quoted from the mechanism of action section of FDA prescribing information for OZEMPIC (semaglutide) injection, read 2026-08-29. Not paraphrased: how a drug works is the last thing a price site should put in its own words.

What it is approved for

  • Glycemic control in type 2 diabetes

    As an adjunct to diet and exercise to improve glycemic control in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus.

  • Cardiovascular risk reduction in type 2 diabetes

    To reduce the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus and established cardiovascular disease.

  • Kidney outcomes in type 2 diabetes

    To reduce the risk of sustained eGFR decline, end-stage kidney disease, and cardiovascular death in adults with type 2 diabetes mellitus and chronic kidney disease.

Which approval a plan cannot exclude — a weight-loss exclusion is written against the use, not the molecule.

What the trial found

12% of body weight. SUSTAIN trials in type 2 diabetes; weight loss is a secondary endpoint, lower than in the Wegovy obesity trials

One trial, one protocol, one population. Comparing it with another drug's figure compares two separate experiments rather than two drugs — the comparison, and what a point of body weight costs.

It carries a boxed warning — the strongest the FDA issues

In rodents this molecule caused thyroid C-cell tumours at human-relevant doses. Whether it does so in people is unknown, and the label carries that as a boxed warning. It is contraindicated outright with a personal or family history of medullary thyroid carcinoma or MEN 2.

Everything the label lists, including who cannot take it →

What it costs

$199 a month once titrated, read from the seller's own page on 2026-06-10. Definitional pages in this category stop before this line; it is the reason this one exists.

Ozempic price and terms →The cheapest way to get it →

Ozempic, answered

How does Ozempic work?
The same molecule as Wegovy, described by its diabetes label: it stimulates insulin and suppresses glucagon, both only when blood glucose is high. The label's own words, from its mechanism of action section: "Semaglutide is a GLP-1 analogue with 94% sequence homology to human GLP-1. Semaglutide acts as a GLP-1 receptor agonist that selectively binds to and activates the GLP-1 receptor, the target for native GLP-1. Semaglutide reduces blood glucose through a mechanism where it stimulates insulin secretion and lowers glucagon secretion, both in a glucose-dependent manner. Thus, when blood glucose is high, insulin secretion is stimulated, and glucagon secretion is inhibited."
What is Ozempic approved for?
glycemic control in type 2 diabetes; cardiovascular risk reduction in type 2 diabetes; kidney outcomes in type 2 diabetes. Approvals are quoted from the label rather than summarised, because the wording is what a prior authorisation is judged against — the full text of each is on the indications page.
How much weight did Ozempic lose in its trial?
12% of body weight. SUSTAIN trials in type 2 diabetes; weight loss is a secondary endpoint, lower than in the Wegovy obesity trials That is what one trial reported under its own protocol, not a prediction for any person, and it cannot be compared directly with another drug's figure because no trial ran them against each other.
How much does Ozempic cost?
$199 a month once titrated, read from the seller's own page on 2026-06-10. The starting dose is usually cheaper and nobody stays on it, which is why the maintenance figure is the one this site records.

Everything on Ozempic

Last updated 2026-08-29 — the FDA label this page quotes