Health Benefits
Gary Sawatzky | Chief Operating Officer , ARTA
ARTA ’ s Benefit Plans and New Meds for Diabetes and Weight Loss
As you may have read in January ’ s ARTAfacts newsletter , new antidiabetic and weight‐loss medications are leading to considerable cost increases to private benefit plans , like ARTA ’ s — and to public plans that cover these medications .
The first medication , Ozempic ( which uses a medicinal ingredient named semaglutide ) is used to treat type 2 diabetes . Ozempic works by mimicking the effects of a naturally occurring hormone called GLP-1 , which helps regulate blood sugar levels . It is typically administered as a weekly injection and is often used in combination with diet and exercise .
Another medication containing semaglutide is called Rybelsus , which is available as an oral tablet . While the two medications use the exact same medicinal ingredient , albeit at different dosages , most people prefer to use Ozempic because it has also been approved to reduce the risk of heart attack or stroke in adults with type 2 diabetes and heart disease .
Semaglutide has several side effects , including weight loss ; this has led to its manufacturer selling yet another version of semaglutide at a higher dose , called Wegovy . This high-dose version is specifically prescribed for chronic weight management in adults with obesity or who are overweight and have at least one weight-related condition . While it was approved for sale in Canada as a weight-loss medication in November 2021 , stock is not yet available because of its popularity in other countries — the supply of Wegovy has not yet caught up to its demand .
The second antidiabetic medication that is just beginning to enter the marketplace is Mounjaro
( generic name tirzepatide ). It has been proven to be slightly more effective than Ozempic in scientific studies . Mounjaro also has a side effect of weight loss , and , like Ozempic , it also has a weight-loss version available at a higher dosage called Zepbound . Zepbound was just approved for sale in the United States in November 2023 , but has not yet been submitted to Health Canada for approval as of this writing . And following on the heels of Zepbound is an even newer medication called MariTide , which is undergoing clinical trials but promises to be just as effective as Wegovy , but with fewer side effects and is better at keeping weight off in the long term .
Both Wegovy and Zepbound have been proven to be very effective medicines for weight loss . According to scientific studies , users of Wegovy have been able to reduce their weight by up to 15 %, and Zepbound users have reduced their weight by
10 | arta . net DREAMS FOR THE FUTURE semaglutide molecule