New Weight Loss Drugs Aren’t a Magic Pill
A new class of weight-loss drugs has taken the United States by storm, and they are different from previous medications in that they seem to work. The drugs, known by their pharmaceutical brand names such as Ozempic and Wegovy, contain semaglutide, a chemical that helps regulate appetite but also blood sugar—a critical function for people suffering from diabetes.
With many people taking the medication for cosmetic purposes, the drugs are in short supply. They are also expensive, must be taken indefinitely, and, so far, are not covered by health insurers for weight loss. Meanwhile, investors are rushing to make a killing off the pharma stocks.
Evette Dionne, executive editor at YES! Media and author of Weightless: Making Space for My Resilient Body and Soul, spoke with YES! Senior Editor Sonali Kolhatkar on YES! Presents: Rising Up With Sonali about her concerns regarding the new drugs.
Sonali Kolhatkar
joined YES! in summer 2021, building on a long and decorated career in broadcast and print journalism. She is an award-winning multimedia journalist, and host and creator of YES! Presents: Rising Up with Sonali, a nationally syndicated television and radio program airing on Free Speech TV and dozens of independent and community radio stations. She is also Senior Correspondent with the Independent Media Institute’s Economy for All project where she writes a weekly column. She is the author of Rising Up: The Power of Narrative in Pursuing Racial Justice (2023) and Bleeding Afghanistan: Washington, Warlords, and the Propaganda of Silence (2005). Her forthcoming book is called Talking About Abolition (Seven Stories Press, 2025). Sonali is co-director of the nonprofit group, Afghan Women’s Mission which she helped to co-found in 2000. She has a Master’s in Astronomy from the University of Hawai’i, and two undergraduate degrees in Physics and Astronomy from the University of Texas at Austin. Sonali reflects on “My Journey From Astrophysicist to Radio Host” in her 2014 TEDx talk of the same name.
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