Times corrects Ozempic headline after Full Fact intervention

The Times has amended a headline that incorrectly suggested doctors should monitor patients taking Ozempic injections in order to lose weight for a year following treatment, after the paper was contacted by Full Fact.

The article, published 5 August, was headlined “Ozempic patients ‘need support for a year after treatment’”, and was included on the newspaper’s front page that day. The first paragraph of the article said: “People should be supported for up to a year after stopping weight-loss medications to prevent them from regaining weight”.

It reported on new guidelines published by the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) for people coming off obesity medication or finishing a weight management programme.

But Ozempic—a drug containing semaglutide, and often seen as synonymous with weight loss injections—is actually only licensed in the UK to treat type 2 diabetes, and shouldn’t be prescribed by the NHS to help people lose weight.

A similar drug—Wegovy—that also contains semaglutide, the same active ingredient as Ozempic, can be prescribed for weight loss.

This drug, along with a similarly-licensed drug Mounjaro, which contains the active ingredient tirzepatide, is what NICE refers to in its guidelines.

The Times did not respond to Full Fact’s request for comment, but has updated the headline in the online version of its article, and we’re grateful to The Times for taking action.