The world’s richest man Elon Musk earlier this week admitted to using the weight loss drug Mounjaro.
What Happened: Musk on Christmas posted a picture of himself donning the Santa Claus costume with the caption “Ozempic Santa.”
The billionaire later clarified that he uses Mounjaro but chose to caption his picture otherwise as Mounjaro doesn’t have the same “ring” to it as Ozempic.
Musk said that he chose Mounjaro produced by Eli Lilly LLY over Ozempic produced by Novo Nordisk A/S NVO owing to seemingly fewer side effects.
“High doses of Ozempic made me fart & burp like Barney from the Simpson's. Mounjaro seems to have fewer side effects and be more effective,” he said.
Musk has previously voiced his support for weight loss drugs saying that the health benefits of reducing obesity far exceed the side effects of using the drugs.
“While no drug is without side effects, health problems associated with obesity almost certainly exceed the risks of GLP-1 agonists,” Musk said as early as Oct. 2023. GLP-1 agonists are a class of medications that can help manage Type 2 diabetes and obesity.
Why It Matters: While Musk, who was named by President-elect Donald Trump to lead the Department of Government Efficiency, is all for weight-loss drugs, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is not.
In November, Trump selected Kennedy Jr., known for his outspoken skepticism about vaccines, to lead the Department of Health and Human Services which oversees drug regulation, among other things.
Kennedy Jr. has previously voiced criticism for Ozempic, terming it as a means of gladdening the wallets of distant Big Pharma execs. In September, he criticized a New York Times opinion piece on Ozempic saying that the piece failed to acknowledge the causes behind obesity such as “our sickening food system” and sedentary lifestyle.
“According to the writer, obesity seems to be a matter of lack—a lack of bariatric surgeries and a lack of Ozempic courtesy of Novo Nordisk, a Danish multinational whose wealth is bigger than Denmark's entire economy. As this drug becomes more widely available, the journalist seems to suggest, ‘America's biggest health problem’ will be under control,” he wrote about the piece on social media platform X.
“Instead of fixing our food system and addressing the obesity crisis at its root, the author focuses on a drug that may palliate the symptom – and gladden the wallets of distant Big Pharma execs.”
“When I'm working in the next administration, I will address our sick food system—and the corrupt government agencies—to help make our country healthy again,” Kennedy Jr. then said while also adding that people should consider kitchen gardens instead of sending money to Denmark.
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