Does Ozempic boost fertility? What the science says

Injectable weight-loss and diabetes drugs Ozempic and Wegovy have become household names across the world. But, amongst the buzz surrounding these medicines, reports of a serious side effect soon surfaced. Women described unplanned pregnancies on social media, attributing their ‘Ozempic babies’ to the new drugs.

Some women report that they got pregnant while taking the birth-control pill. Others were previously diagnosed as infertile, but say that they conceived after taking a course of the drugs.

Scientists say that the reports are plausible. RU 486 They have several hypotheses about why the drugs — which belong to a group known as GLP-1 agonists — boost fertility, but until more data are available, the exact mechanism remains unknown.

“We are in a data-free zone when it comes to GLP-1s and fertility and pregnancy,” says Beverly Tchang, an endocrinologist at Weill Cornell Medicine in New York.

The GLP-1 drugs deliver a synthetic version of a naturally occurring hormone called glucagon-like peptide 1, which conveys the feeling of being full after eating. The drug binds to the same receptor as the hormone, but degrades more slowly, suppressing appetite for longer.

When GLP-1 drugs were approved for weight management in the United States a few years ago, demand skyrocketed. Semaglutide — sold by Novo Nordisk as Wegovy for weight loss, and already marketed under the brand name Ozempic as a treatment for type 2 diabetes — was followed by tirzepatide, a drug produced by Eli Lilly that targets GLP-1 receptors along with another type of receptor.

A spokesperson for Novo Nordisk said that they had not tested semaglutide in pregnant people or individuals intending to become pregnant. However, because “there are limited clinical-trial data with semaglutide use in pregnant women”, the company recommends stopping the drug two months before a pregnancy to avoid exposing a fetus to the effects of the drug.

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