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Speaker 1: A popular weight loss drug made famous by its celebrity users,

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Speaker 1: has been approved by Medsafe Today. We'regov. A sister drug

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Speaker 1: of ozepic has proven effective to help people lose up

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Speaker 1: to five percent of their weight. Doctor Lara Courtney is

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Speaker 1: a GP and a bariantric physician at the Weightless Clinic

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Speaker 1: in Auckland and she's with me now, good afternoon. Hi.

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Speaker 1: So this waygov. This is for weight loss as opposed

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Speaker 1: to diabetes, which is the ozepic one. Is that right?

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Speaker 2: Yes, it's the same medication as ozempic, but it's there

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Speaker 2: have been trials done and it's been rebranded as we

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Speaker 2: go be so it's exactly the same drug, just at

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Speaker 2: different doses based on the trials.

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Speaker 1: And this is for weight loss. So how big would

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Speaker 1: you have to be to get this way? Govy.

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Speaker 2: I don't actually know what the rules are yet in

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Speaker 2: New Zealand. But for sexender, which is Lyra glue tide,

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Speaker 2: which is a similar type of medication that's a once

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Speaker 2: a day injectable, you have to be a BMI over

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Speaker 2: thirty or a BMI of over twenty seven with a

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Speaker 2: comorbidity related to obesity. So I'm not sure what the

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Speaker 2: rules will be yet, but I'm assuming it will be similar.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so you have to you have to be pretty

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Speaker 1: serious on the on the obesity spectrum in order to

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Speaker 1: get this. Still, it's not like you, you know, I

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Speaker 1: want to lose a few pounds. I've gone to the

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Speaker 1: gym for a week. I'll try way, GOVI No, no,

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Speaker 1: it's not.

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Speaker 2: It's not like that at all. And actually all the

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Speaker 2: trials are done with lifestyle change and an increase in

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Speaker 2: physical activity, So whoever's doing the prescribing should be also

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Speaker 2: talking to you about diet change and lifestyle change. So

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Speaker 2: it is actually indicated for all the studies, we're actually

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Speaker 2: done with a very low calorie diet alongside increase in exercise,

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Speaker 2: So whoever goes on it should be doing all those

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Speaker 2: things together. You can't just take the medication and expect

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Speaker 2: it to sort of change your life.

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Speaker 1: What does the medication do then? Does it make you

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Speaker 1: eat less or does it make you eat better?

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Speaker 2: So I've actually had quite a few patients who have

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Speaker 2: sourced this medication from overseas over the last few years,

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Speaker 2: so I've spoken to them about it, and it makes

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Speaker 2: you feel full throughout the day. What a lot of

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Speaker 2: patients say it does is it reduces their food noise

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Speaker 2: and when you eat, you don't want to eat as

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Speaker 2: large volumes. But the risk is we don't want people

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Speaker 2: not eating, and I think that has been happening overseas.

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Speaker 2: We've got people going really high doses, not managed by

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Speaker 2: comprehensive team and then just not eating. But the whole

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Speaker 2: point of this is to take it and then eat

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Speaker 2: a healthier balanced diet while you're on it and lose

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Speaker 2: weight in a healthy way.

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Speaker 1: Are there long term side effects we don't know about you.

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Speaker 2: There could be. I mean these are new medications. The

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Speaker 2: other medication that I talked about earlier has been around

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Speaker 2: about ten years. But in terms of what they're finding

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Speaker 2: out recently about we go Be and Ozimpic is that

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Speaker 2: you might get a reduction in muscle mass you're on

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Speaker 2: it long term. So I think it is important again

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Speaker 2: that we start implementing checking people's muscle mass. In Australia,

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Speaker 2: they're checking what's called a grip strength test and doing

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Speaker 2: those body composition scans. So I think we just do

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Speaker 2: need to now check that patients that are being monitored

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Speaker 2: while they're on it, because it has been abused overseas.

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Speaker 1: That's interesting because muscle mass is obviously very important if

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Speaker 1: you go over the age of fifty sixty, if you're

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Speaker 1: in your seventies, you need muscle otherwise you're fall We

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Speaker 1: know that's a big problem right.

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Speaker 2: Totally, so we shouldn't be deconditioning people. They should be

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Speaker 2: getting stronger and healthier. And also also the medications overseas

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Speaker 2: they are being used. You would have seen for the

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Speaker 2: oscars and things like that ful weight loss, but that's

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Speaker 2: not what it's indicated for. So hopefully in New Zealand

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Speaker 2: doctors stick to the prescribing rules.

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Speaker 1: What does it cost?

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Speaker 2: Oh, I don't actually know. In Australia they do have

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Speaker 2: a pricing schedule, but sex enders around five fifty a months,

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Speaker 2: so it should be similar to that.

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Speaker 1: And it's not fun.

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Speaker 2: They haven't released it.

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Speaker 1: It's not going to be fun as far as we know.

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Speaker 1: Farmac's not going to fund it, so it'll be up

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Speaker 1: to you totally.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it'll be up to the patient to pay.

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Speaker 1: Is this is this a drug you would take as

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Speaker 1: opposed to getting bariatric surgery.

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Speaker 2: I think there are some calculations you can do. It

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Speaker 2: depends about how much weight loss you need to achieve.

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Speaker 2: So I think if you're needing to if your BMIs

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Speaker 2: over thirty five, you qualify for bariatric surgery. Often, if

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Speaker 2: you add up the amount of months you need to

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Speaker 2: be on this medicine, it is better to be on

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Speaker 2: barrier to have bariatric surgery. So, but for some people

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Speaker 2: it definitely will be an alternative.

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Speaker 1: Do you think it could be abused here? Will doctors

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Speaker 1: start handing it out like candy?

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Speaker 2: I hope not, but that is a risk. It's happened overseas.

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Speaker 1: Fascinating stuff. Thanks very much for coming on the show

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Speaker 1: explaining that to us. Doctor Laura Courtney GP and bariatric

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Speaker 1: physician at the Weightless Clinic and All Clinic. Just gone

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Speaker 1: quarter past four news talks B. I do want to

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Speaker 1: let you know, well a couple of things. First of all,

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Speaker 1: Waggovi has come out and said to get this drug

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Speaker 1: you have and people described it as a miracle drug.

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Speaker 1: To get this, you have to be overweight, and there's

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Speaker 1: a definition you can look up for that, but you

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Speaker 1: have to be overweight, and you have to have a

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Speaker 1: comorbidity like high cholesterol or diabetes or heart disease or

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Speaker 1: something like that. In theory, but overseas. I mean, I've

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Speaker 1: got friends who are on it in Australia and they

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Speaker 1: just go around the fancy suburbs of Melbourne and Sydney

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Speaker 1: and they go to the right doctors and they just

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Speaker 1: ask for it and they get it despite the fact

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Speaker 1: they've you know, probably not got a lot wrong with

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Speaker 1: them other than they want to lose some weight. Now,

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Speaker 1: doctor Laura has taken money. I wanted to make this

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Speaker 1: clear to everyone. Taken money to speak on behalf of

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Speaker 1: both these drug companies. She told me she does it

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Speaker 1: for educational purposes. She works at a private clinic doing

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Speaker 1: this stuff. They don't give out scripts willy nilly there

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Speaker 1: they have to go. You have to get a doctor,

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Speaker 1: go to a dietitian first, all that kind of stuff.

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Speaker 1: But just interesting that doctors can get money from big

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Speaker 1: farmer In New Zealand. I didn't realize it was a thing.

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Speaker 1: But there is a register. It's not illegal here. You

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Speaker 1: just have to declare it. There's a register. Doctors and

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Speaker 1: health professionals got about six hundred thousand dollars in total

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Speaker 1: from thirteen companies in twenty twenty three. So there you go.

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Speaker 2: For more from Heather Duplessy Allen Drive.

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Speaker 1: Listen live to News Talk sai'd Be from four pm weekdays,

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