Are Weight Loss Drugs Worth the Costs and Risks?

By John Klar, Contributor, The MAHA Report

Helping people with eating disorders is a laudable goal, but there remain unknown health risks associated with a clutch of new weight loss drugs – and significant costs.

Ozempic was developed initially (and FDA-approved in 2005) for the treatment of life-threatening diabetes. Wegovy was approved by the FDA on March 8, 2024, to treat obese or “overweight” patients. Both use the same medication, glucagon-like peptide (GLP-1) agonists, but differ in dosage. Medicaid and Medicare are more likely to cover the use of Ozempic for diabetes than they are Wegovy for obesity, depending on state standards administered under these federal programs. Controversy centers on their use for weight loss because it is less urgent than diabetes.

GLP-1 was initially created using the Gila Monster after researchers identified a hormone in the lizard’s toxic venom that closely resembled the GLP-1 found in the human gut. Human GLP-1 regulates appetite and blood sugar; the reptilian form is longer-lasting. Subsequent research led to the development of the synthetic version used in Ozempic and Wegovy, which is manufactured through recombinant DNA technology by genetically engineering bacteria or yeast cells to produce proteins that mimic human GLP-1. GLP-1 drugs stimulate patients’ pancreases to secrete more insulin and signal their brains to feel fuller with less food.

Ironically, this effect essentially counters food additives designed to stimulate people’s appetites – perhaps Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and the FDA will eventually ban such substances. In the interim, concerns about cost, ethics, and safety abound.

Ozempic and Wegovy are taken by weekly injection, and cost in excess of $1,000/month. Their long-term safety is unknown, and most patients who discontinue use quickly regain lost weight. These drugs yield hundreds of billions of dollars in Big Pharma profits by creating a dependency in patients to “cure” them from the harms of ultra-processed foods and a sedentary lifestyle, as documented in the MAHA Commission Report.

Wegovy’s manufacturer concedes on its webpage that the regulatory approval of Wegovy involved “a relatively short duration of follow-up, limiting the assessment of long-term outcomes….” Synthetic GLP-1 frequently causes vomiting and nausea, and may induce more serious complications, including intestinal blockage and pancreatitis. One study found patients prescribed GLP-1 were at 9.09 times higher risk of pancreatitis, 4.22 times higher risk of intestinal obstruction, and 3.67 times higher risk of gastroparesis (stomach paralysis). UK officials recently announced plans to study links between GLP-1 use and acute pancreatitis after hundreds of recorded incidents, including over 100 in 2025 alone.

It may not be shocking that a recombinant-DNA hormone synthesized from Gila Monster venom poses health risks to patients seeking weight loss. Alarms have sounded for years in the US that weight loss drugs threaten serious, life-changing side effects. A leading lawsuit is pending by a Louisiana woman who claims “she suffered vomiting so severe it caused her to lose teeth.” Her attorneys are reportedly investigating over 10,000 claims related to these drugs. The firm alleges on its website other possible harms, including gallbladder issues, vision loss, encephalopathy, and death.

Kennedy was an outspoken critic of weight loss drugs prior to his appointment as Secretary of Health and Human Services. The Biden administration opened the door for Medicare and Medicaid to provide coverage for these costly drugs; RFK Jr. criticized them and the companies that manufacture them. The downsides of popular medications like Wegovy and Ozempic underscore why Mr. Kennedy is rightly skeptical.

The potential healthcare savings of an effective weight loss intervention are astronomical, but the benefits of these drugs vanish when they are discontinued.

The potential for long-term health risks coupled with extraordinarily high costs to taxpayers suggest this is a devil’s bargain leading to lifelong dependency. What is the difference between public funding for a pharmaceutical techno-teat to counterbalance gluttony and sloth and lifelong methadone to rescue people from poor decisions relating to illegal drug use? Financial analysts forecast that profits from this class of drugs could easily exceed $100-$150 billion annually very shortly.

The ever-present modern consumer desire for a quick fix (in this case, literally a jab in the belly) for complex health challenges circles back to Kennedy’s preferred prescription for obesity: improved diets and exercise.

Kennedy has emphasized that the U.S.is authorizing the rampant use of these insufficiently tested drugs while Denmark restricts their approval. The human body can shed weight with exercise and wholesome foods without the dubious aid of Big Pharma on the taxpayer's dime.

Such drugs also create a sort of split personality for the social justice movement – is obesity to be “affirmed” as beautiful, while those who take weight loss drugs are derided as self-stigmatizing? Which is more unhealthy – being fat, or taking potentially harmful pharmaceuticals to combat obesity? How much should the government be involved in personal weight loss and its economic costs?

The scientific jury is still out on the long-term health risks of these drugs. Manufacturers, meanwhile, hide behind FDA approval to advertise their fat-preventing wares as “safe and effective.” Robert F Kennedy, Jr. is right to encourage people toward the middle road of exercise and a conscientious diet – the safest route, albeit less traveled.