GLP-1 Drugs Explained: Ozempic, Wegovy, Side Effects, Cost & Risks

The Exam Room by the Physicians Committee

Physicians Committee

Health & Fitness, Nutrition, Medicine

4.9 • 3.3K Ratings

🗓️ 16 December 2025

⏱️ 24 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, and Zepbound are changing medicine — but at what cost?

In this episode of The Exam Room Podcast, host Chuck Carroll sits down with Ben Urich, PharmD, PhD, to break down the real-world data behind the GLP-1 explosion.

You'll learn:

- How many people are actually using GLP-1 drugs
- Why most users stop — and why that's starting to change
- The true cost of GLP-1 medications to employers and health plans
- Common and serious side effects to be aware of
- Why GLP-1s are now being studied for Alzheimer's disease and addiction
- What the future holds as more than 30 new drugs enter the pipeline

This is a must-watch conversation for anyone considering GLP-1 medications, currently using Ozempic or Wegovy, or wondering where modern weight-loss medicine is headed next.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Today, on the exam room.
0:04.0	We are seeing the use of these products explode to use a non-scientific term.
0:08.0	Right.
0:09.0	For example, within the data that we have, when we looked at this in 2021, we were able to identify 4,000 people once we sort of worked all the way down in our attrition who initiated these products.
0:17.0	That has now more than about quintupled in more recent periods. Big, big increases in use in the
0:22.6	large employer space. We're talking about tens to hundreds of thousands of people use in these
0:25.8	products. Just an enormous increase in a short period of time. Welcome to the exam room
0:33.6	podcast, brought to you by the Physicians Committee. Hi, I'm Chuck Carroll, raising health
0:38.4	IQs coast to coast and around the world. Hi to the exam room. He's listening in State College,
0:43.8	Pennsylvania, Flagstaff, Arizona, and Lufin, Belgium. Wherever you are, we appreciate you,
0:50.0	helping to make the world a healthier place. This is episode 98 of season 8, number 697 overall.
0:57.2	And today we are going to be diving into one of the most talked about and fastest growing
1:01.9	trends in modern medicine. We're going to be talking about GLP1 drugs, from OZempe to Wagovi to Zepbound. Bottom line is the use of these are exploding and
1:14.8	the costs are staggering, but the questions just keep coming. And to help us separate hype from
1:22.0	hard data, today we will be joined by Dr. Ben Yurek, who is a senior director of health outcomes who lives and breathes
1:29.7	the numbers behind these medications. This is a quick hitter from the International Conference
1:35.0	on Nutrition and Medicine, so stay tuned for that. And also coming up after the interview,
1:40.1	I'm going to share with you how your support and donations help to power this podcast and
1:45.7	the Physicians Committee's life-saving work as we head into 2026. Going to give you details
1:51.5	on how you can pitch in. But right now, let's talk everything, GLP1, with the one and only
1:58.0	Dr. Ben Urick right here on the exam room. Thanks for making time, my friend. Absolutely. It's great to be here. Great to have you. Sharp, dressed man. I appreciate what you bring to the table. Very good. You as well. Thank you. It's kind of my schick. I like what you got going on. I try. I try. You succeed so uh g lp ones first of all it seems to me like
2:22.5	they are still exploding in popularity yeah how how many people are are using g lp1 drugs right now
	...

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