Rise of Ozempic ads in Canada raising concern. What are the risks?

The problem with the mass Ozempic advertising campaign is that it cultivates an impression that it's a 'wonder drug' that's going to help people lose weight, one doctor said.

With ads popping up on TV, social media, giant billboards and at professional sports games, Canadians may be feeling bombarded by marketing for Ozempic and sister drug Rybelsus.

Some have taken to social media to document their most remarkable sightings, including Ozempic and Rybelsus ads wrapping entire streetcars and encircling the field at Toronto Blue Jays baseball games.

Both medications are semaglutide drugs manufactured by Novo Nordisk – Ozempic is the injectable form and Rybelsus is the pill form. They’re approved in Canada for treating Type 2 diabetes and often prescribed off-label to treat obesity.

But some doctors and medical ethics experts say the marketing campaign is too aggressive. They worry that such intense saturation of advertising could lead to pressure on doctors to prescribe Ozempic to patients who don’t actually need it, leading to shortages for those who do.

They also worry that serious potential side-effects such as pancreatitis and gallbladder inflammation, although rare, could start to appear due to the sheer volume of people taking the drug.

“What the (company is) trying to do is to put the ads in so many places that it’s very difficult to avoid seeing them,” said Dr. Joel Lexchin, a professor emeritus at York University who studies pharmaceutical policy.

Health Canada allows pharmaceutical companies to run “reminder ads,” Lexchin said. Advertisements can say the name of the drug but they can’t say what conditions it treats. Instead, they urge people to ask their doctors about the drug.

Kate Hanna, a spokeswoman for Novo Nordisk’s Canadian arm, told The Canadian Press on Monday that the national marketing campaign is aimed at people with Type 2 diabetes.