Ozempic is a type of medication you might need to take if you have type 2 diabetes.
- What is Ozempic used for?
- Supply issues of Ozempic in the UK
- How does Ozempic work?
- How to take Ozempic
- Who can take Ozempic?
- Your prescription
- Side effects of Ozempic
- More information and support with Ozempic
Avoid buying Ozempic online. This medication should be prescribed and monitored by a healthcare professional. Read our FAQs on GLP-1 agonist shortages for more information.
What is Ozempic used for?
Ozempic, a brand name for semaglutide, belongs to a group of drugs called GLP-1 agonists - these can also be called GLP-1 analogues, GLP-1 RAs and incretin mimetics.
There are several different GLP-1 agonists available in the UK.
Ozempic is a treatment for type 2 diabetes, which can help you to manage blood sugar levels. You can take it on its own or with other diabetes medications such as metformin, sulphonylureas or insulin.
Supply issues of Ozempic in the UK
We know that due to global shortages of GLP-1 medications, some people living with type 2 diabetes who could benefit from these drugs are unable to access them.
Read our response to the serious supply issues of drugs for people with type 2 diabetes.
The shortages mean people with type 2 diabetes should not start new treatment with Ozempic or any injectable GLP-1 agonist. However, your healthcare professional might start you on Rybelsus, a different GLP-1 agonist.
Since March 2024, people with type 2 diabetes can also be offered another diabetes medication called Mounjaro if you are unable to access your usual agonist medication.
If the shortages of these medications have impacted your diabetes treatment and you’re looking for more information we have a GLP-1 shortage FAQ page.
Your healthcare team should get in touch if these shortages will affect you, but you can contact them if you're worried or have questions. Give our helpline a call if you have questions or concerns – call 0345 123 2399.
How does Ozempic work?
Ozempic increases the levels of incretins – hormones – which are naturally produced by the stomach when you eat.
It works by helping your body to produce more insulin when needed. It also reduces the amount of glucose, or sugar, produced by the liver, and slows down how quickly food is digested. This all helps to lower blood sugar levels and HbA1c.
This drug can also reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke.
How to take Ozempic
Ozempic is an injection that you take once a week. Your healthcare team will give you more information about how to take Ozempic, and how to inject.
Always take this medication exactly as your healthcare team has told you. The Patient Information Leaflet inside the box will tell you how to take it but always check with a doctor or pharmacist if you are not sure.
Who can take Ozempic?
Adults over the age of 18 years with type 2 diabetes can take Ozempic.
Guidelines from the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, or NICE for short, recommend that Ozempic can be prescribed to adults with type 2 diabetes when:
- Using three medications has not been effective in managing diabetes.
- Or you have not been able to take the medications. This might be because of side effects or because of other medical conditions.
Ozempic is only prescribed to people who have a Body Mass Index, known as BMI, of 35kg/m2 or more and have additional psychological or other medical conditions that are related to obesity.
However, someone with type 2 diabetes can be prescribed Ozempic if they have a BMI below 35kg/m2 and:
- Using insulin would affect their job due to the risk of low blood sugar, also known as hypoglycemia, or hypos;
- Weight loss would lead to improvements in other obesity-related health issues.
NICE recommends – due to their risk from obesity-related health problems at a lower BMI – that people from Black African, African-Caribbean, Asian, South Asian, Chinese, and Middle Eastern backgrounds receive Ozempic at a lower BMI.
Who can’t take Ozempic?
Some medications might not be suitable for some people, which might be because of medical conditions or other reasons:
- Your doctor will tell you to stop taking Ozempic if you develop diabetic ketoacidosis, also called DKA;
- If you have kidney disease you might not be able to take Ozempic, but this will depend on the stage of your kidney disease;
- If you have severe liver disease you might not be able to take Ozempic;
- You might need to temporarily stop Ozempic if you’re going to have an operation;
- You should not take Ozempic during pregnancy or if you are breastfeeding. If you are planning a pregnancy, it’s very important to speak to a healthcare professional if you are using this medication.
When you start a new medication always check with your healthcare team that it’s suitable for you to take.
Your prescription
You should only be given a prescription for this medication following an assessment by your healthcare team to make sure that you meet the criteria and that you’ll benefit from its use.
This should be an individual assessment that includes how this medication will fit into your current treatment plan and considers any diet or activity programme that you are following, as well as the risk of side effects, the dose you’ll need, and your personal choices.
Your healthcare team should explain your prescription to you but it's important to make sure you ask if you don't feel you know enough.
And make sure you talk to your GP or your diabetes team if you struggle to take Ozempic. They might be able to help by giving you a different dose.
In England, if you need to take any medication to manage your diabetes, your prescriptions will be free. Ask your healthcare team about a prescription exemption certificate if you don't have one, to make sure you don't get charged for your medication. Prescriptions are already free for everybody in the rest of the UK, so you shouldn't pay for medication.
Side effects of Ozempic
Like all medications, Ozempic can cause side effects. But when side effects are listed as common in the Patient Information Leaflet, it doesn’t mean that everyone that takes the medication will get them.
The information about side effects is based on the likelihood of people having them. For example, if a side effect is very common then it can affect more than one in ten people, and if a side effect is very rare then it affects fewer than one in 10,000 people.
Because medicines can affect people differently, your healthcare team will speak to you about what’s best for you and discuss any side effects.
Some of the most common side effects are:
- feeling sick
- diarrhoea
- vomiting.
Risk of worsening retinopathy
If you have diabetic eye disease, known as diabetic retinopathy, and you’re using insulin, then your retinopathy could get worse when you start Ozempic, and this might need treatment.
It’s thought that this might be caused when blood sugar levels fall too quickly once you start using Ozempic with insulin - there is ongoing research into this.
Tell your doctor if you have diabetic eye disease or if you experience eye problems during treatment with Ozempic..
Risk of low blood sugar
When taken on its own, Ozempic does not usually cause blood sugar levels to become too low. However, hypos are more likely to happen when you take this drug with other diabetes medications such as insulin or a sulphonylurea.
Your healthcare team may advise reducing the dose of your sulphonylurea or insulin medicine when you start taking Ozempic to reduce the risk of hypos.
Risk of high blood sugar
If you take Ozempic with insulin and your insulin dose is reduced too quickly it can cause high blood sugar levels, also called hyperglycaemia, and there is an increased risk of diabetic ketoacidosis, or DKA. Your health care team should discuss with you the signs and symptoms of DKA.
These are not all the side effects. You will find a full list of known side effects in the Patient Information Leaflet. This comes in the medication box.
It’s also important that you take individual advice from your healthcare team before starting Ozempic treatment and report any side effects to your healthcare professionals, if you experience any.
You can also report these side effects to the Yellow Card Scheme, which is the government system used for recording side effects with medicines in the UK.
Ozempic for weight loss
Some people lose weight when they take Ozempic as part of their type 2 diabetes treatment. This is because this drug slows down how quickly food is digested and can reduce your appetite, so you eat less.
More information and support with Ozempic
Still have more questions? Or is there anything you're not sure about Ozempic after reading this page? Contact our helpline on 0345 123 2399.
You can visit the NHS website for more information on Ozempic.
