New Delhi: Ozempic and Wegovy, the drugs that have dominated global health headlines for their dramatic weight-loss effects, are now being linked to something far broader: fewer sick days, reduced hospital visits, and potentially billions in healthcare savings.<\/p>\n
A new UK-based study presented at the European Congress on Obesity in Istanbul, and reported by The Guardian last week, has found that National Health Service (NHS) patients on GLP-1 (glucagon-like peptide-1) weight-loss jabs cut their sick days by nearly half. A separate study of 738 patients found emergency room visits fell by a quarter.<\/p>\n
The NHS is the United Kingdom\u2019s publicly funded healthcare system.<\/p>\n
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The study, conducted by digital healthcare provider Oviva, tracked 1,270 NHS patients enrolled in a specialist management programme. All had been prescribed GLP-1 injections.<\/p>\n
Most received semaglutide, marketed as Wegovy for weight loss and Ozempic for type-2 diabetes, alongside treatment for at least three weight-related illnesses, most commonly anxiety, high blood pressure and type 2 diabetes. After nine months, they lost an average of 12.4 percent of their body weight.<\/p>\n
The workplace data was also striking. Comparing equivalent three-month periods before and after starting treatment, average sick days fell from 1.19 per patient to 0.66, an overall 45 percent drop.<\/p>\n
Long-term sickness absence, defined as five or more consecutive days, fell by 56 percent. The proportion of patients taking such leave dropped from 17 percent to 7 percent.<\/p>\n
Face-to-face general practitioner (GP) visits fell 43 percent, from an average of 1.67 appointments per three months to 0.95. Remote consultations dropped 48 percent, and more than 60 percent of patients did not contact their GP at all during the period.<\/p>\n
\u201cBritain is in the grip of a productivity crisis, and obesity is one of the biggest drivers. Our data shows that when people get the right treatment\u2013jabs combined with proper clinical support\u2013they don\u2019t just lose weight. They get back to work, stop relying on their GP and start living again,\u201d Martin Fidock, the UK managing director of Oviva, a provider of digital healthcare services, told The Guardian.<\/p>\n
With more than a quarter of adults in England classified as obese, experts said if the weight management programme were expanded to the 3.4 million people currently eligible for weight-loss jabs on the NHS, it could free up nearly 10 million GP appointments every year, saving the health service about \u00a3364 million a year, which translates to roughly Rs 4,700 crore.<\/p>\n
GLP-1, or glucagon-like peptide-1, is a hormone the gut releases after eating. It signals fullness to the brain, prompts the pancreas to release insulin and slows digestion.<\/p>\n
The drugs semaglutide, sold as Ozempic for diabetes and Wegovy for weight loss, and tirzepatide, sold as Mounjaro, are synthetic versions engineered to amplify these effects.<\/p>\n
Administered as weekly injections, they have produced weight loss of 15-20 percent in clinical trials, numbers once associated only with bariatric surgery.\u00a0Their popularity has been staggering. Novo Nordisk, the Danish company behind Ozempic and Wegovy, briefly became Europe\u2019s most valuable company on the back of demand.<\/p>\n
In India, a turning point arrived in March 2026 when semaglutide\u2019s patent expired, prompting many pharmaceutical companies including Sun Pharma, Dr Reddy\u2019s and Zydus to launch generics<\/a> at a fraction of the earlier cost.<\/p>\n