Ozempic and other weight loss drugs will "undoubtedly" deliver financial savings for the health service in the long-term, the HSE’s National Clinical Lead for Obesity has predicted. 

A new trial involving 17,000 people on weight loss drugs found they reduced the risk of stroke and heart disease by half. 

Researchers also concluded they are an effective way to reduce the risk of obesity related cancer 

Trials are still examining the impact of the drugs on dementia and cognitive declines. 

Ozempic

On Newstalk Breakfast, Professor Donald O’Shea hailed the drugs  as a “game changer” in medicine’s fight to help people with ill health. 

“Obesity is the disease,” he said. 

“There are people who are overweight but don’t have any of the complications and it’s when obesity is driving disease that you need to treat it. 

“In that setting, these are game changers and the European Congress on Obesity presented a range of new and emerging treatments. 

“Plus the evidence that treating the high risk individuals reduces all the [risk of harmful diseases]. 

“So, undoubtedly it’s going to save money but the problem in the health service is you have to spend on the medication or the surgery and you never see the saved money.” 

Semaglutide drugs Wegovy and Ozempic. Image: Alamy

People who currently use weight loss drugs inject them - which many patients find uncomfortable. 

However, weight loss pills are expected to be licensed in the near future. 

It means, Professor O’Shea said, that the atmosphere at the European Congress on Obesity was “transformed” in comparison to previous years. 

“We’ve had very little ammunition in trying to treat obesity and now, not only do we have effective treatments but we’re seeing what the future is looking like,” he said. 

“This particular tablet, it’s a once daily tablet and effectively when you eat it, it turns into almost like a bin liner along the first part of the gut of your stomach. 

“So, all the food passes that part of the intestine where most of the energy is absorbed.” 

Last year, an estimated 25,000 Irish people were taking Ozempic through HSE schemes. 

Main image: An Ozempic injection. Picture by: Alamy.com.