The Ozempic boom has taken over Hollywood and the world of social media influencers looking to shed a few extra pounds.
It has also provided millions of people suffering from obesity with a way to boost their weight loss when diet and exercise alone are not enough.
But rather than Los Angeles or New York, it’s one very modest city that’s feeling the boom more than anywhere else in America: Bowling Green, Kentucky.
At least 4 percent of Bowling Green residents have a prescription for one of these breakthrough drugs, a figure considerably higher than in metropolises like New York and Miami, where it is closer to 1 percent.
WEIGHT LOSS HOTSPOT: A very modest town that is feeling this boom more than any other place in America: Bowling Green, Kentucky
A NEW WOMAN: Mary Ellis (right) lost 80 pounds on Ozempic
THE APPLE OF HER EYE: Mary’s husband (left) has also started taking it. The medical spa where they get the injections is so crowded that they often can’t get an appointment.
That figure, devised by PurpleLab Inc., which tracks prescriptions covered by insurance, does not account for the number of people who get their drugs from smaller pharmacies that make their own versions or people who pay out of pocket because insurance doesn’t cover the cost.
Since a It is estimated that 7.4 percent While 75,000 Bowling Green residents do not have health insurance, the actual number of residents with prescriptions for one of these drugs could be higher.
Business is booming at Bowling Green doctors’ offices, prescription pharmacies and medical spas.
There, it seems, everyone is either taking one of the drugs or knows someone who is, and more and more places in the United States are on the cusp of becoming similar “Ozempictowns.”
Marie Ellis was not immediately convinced by the injections, whose clinical trial results showed the vast majority of patients lost up to 20 percent of their body weight after about a year of taking them.
She was in her 40s, weighed 265 pounds and had tried nearly every fad diet in existence with no results, according to a report by Bloomberg.
So he thought he had nothing to lose when a doctor prescribed him Mounjaro, a drug similar to Ozempic made by Eli Lilly.
She lost 40 kilos over the course of a year. An added benefit was that she suddenly stopped craving cigarettes, as she had been a smoker since she was a teenager.
Before long, her husband began taking it. The Ellises, who were very complimentary, persuaded Marie’s cousin to obtain a prescription for the injections.
Until recently, Marie’s daughter-in-law Savanna had been taking Wegovy, a stronger version of Ozempic first approved for weight loss.
She only stopped taking it because she was worried about how it might affect her pregnancy.
Ms. Ellis joined a local medical spa that distributed the weekly injections, although they were cheaper imitations.
But soon the place became so packed that he couldn’t get an appointment: “If you go tomorrow at 8am, or even earlier, you won’t find any parking.”
“Now you can’t get in. It’s almost impossible.”
Nikki Wilson before her weight loss journey (left). The Bowling Green hairdresser lost about 20 pounds with obesity drugs. Her clients often tell her they are also getting the injections.
She now gets her shots from a nurse practitioner who lives out of state and has them mailed to her.
Meanwhile, clients of Nikki Wilson, owner of Posh Salon, are raving about the wonder drugs. While dyeing one person’s hair, Ms. Wilson excitedly comments that she has lost 20 pounds.
She said: ‘Everyone asked me how I lost weight and I said injections.’
Ozempic, which was initially approved to treat type 2 diabetes, and Wegovy are basically the same drug. The latter is just a higher dose. Both are made with the same main ingredient, semaglutide.
Semaglutide stimulates weight loss by mimicking the actions of GLP-1, or glucagon-like peptide-1, a brain hormone that regulates appetite and feelings of satiety.
It also slows down the rate at which the stomach empties, making you feel fuller for longer and therefore less likely to eat more.
Mounjaro and its cousin Zepbound are slightly different. Their active ingredient is called tirzepatide and, in addition to acting on GLP-1 receptors, it acts on the hormone glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP), which enhances the positive effects.
They have made billions of dollars for pharmaceutical companies Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly, and the flow of profits shows no signs of slowing.
Novo made about $12 billion in profit last year, its largest annual net profit since 1989. Lilly reported $11.3 billion in revenue and $2.97 billion in net profit in the second quarter of 2024 alone.
That financial windfall has come to Bowling Green, where the gym business is booming, medical spas are popping up everywhere, the local vitamin store is making big profits on supplements to treat drug-induced nausea, and the restaurant industry hasn’t suffered despite the growing number of people with appetite loss.
Candie Gray, who grew up near the town and takes semaglutide, said: “Do we still have dinner every Friday night with our friends? Absolutely.”
“Am I eating half of what I was eating before? Yes. You have to figure out how you continue to function in those social environments.”
Ms. Gray, the chief executive of a senior center, started taking Ozempic in 2022. Her two brothers, aged 50 and 60 respectively, had died of massive heart attacks and her sister warned they could be next.
Candie Gray lost 30 pounds on Ozempic and saw her overall health improve. She takes a version of the drug made by a compounding pharmacy that, instead of selling brand-name Ozempic or Wegovy, sells its own very similar blends.
At the time, Gray weighed about 205 pounds, was prediabetic and had high blood pressure. But in a matter of just six months of taking the medication, she had dropped 30 pounds, her lab results normalized and her commitment to weight loss accelerated.
She walks her Great Dane regularly, plays pickleball with her husband and shops online to avoid the temptation of the brick-and-mortar store.
Her progress was moving at breakneck speed, but she hit a roadblock when her insurance denied her coverage for the drug. After six months, the company said she no longer met the prior authorization requirements to obtain it and cut off her supply.
She switched to a copycat version of the drug made by a pharmacy for $246 a month — more than she was paying with insurance, but far less than the list price of $1,300 a month.
She said, ‘You have a nurse practitioner that you can talk to on the phone, that you can send some lab work to. But they won’t have any idea if I weigh 125 (pounds) or 225 (pounds).’
Compounding pharmacies aim to provide medications to patients whose needs are not met by FDA-approved medications. If an elderly person takes a medication that comes in pill form but is unable to take it that way, a compounding pharmacist would prepare it in liquid form.
They are not generic and are not FDA-approved. Instead, state boards of pharmacy have oversight power, meaning pharmacies selling prepared semaglutide may not comply with state and federal regulations.