Chances are—you or someone you know—is taking a GLP-1 to lose weight.
The popular medications are sold under names like Ozempic, Wegovy, Zepbound and Mounjaro.
In a week-long series, WRTV Investigates is digging into the benefits and costs associated with these medications.
On Monday, WRTV Investigates dug into the benefits and financial costs associated with GLP-1 drugs.
The medications also come with possible side effects, including losing muscle mass, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and constipation.
Sue Seyfert considers herself lucky.
“I’ve never had any side effects,” said Seyfert.
The Indiana native is one of millions of Americans taking GLP-1s, a class of medications used to treat diabetes, obesity, heart disease and other health conditions.
Sue takes Ozempic for diabetes, not for weight loss.
Andy Schmelz, an associate professor of pharmacy practice at Butler University, said gastrointestinal side effects are common among users.
“Most patients will experience some kind of stomach-related side effect like nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, constipation,” said Schmelz. “That’s fairly typical for medications that work like this.”
He also points GLP-1 drugs have a black box warning for thyroid tumors.
"The drugs have been found to increase the risk of thyroid tumors in mice," said Schmelz. "Because of that, we definitely recommend patients use caution who have a family history or a personal history of thyroid cancer."
WRTV Investigates found dozens of patients claiming they’ve suffered serious side effects from taking GLP-1 drugs.
In the past few months, court records show dozens of lawsuits filed by patients in Marion County against Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk, the Danish maker of Ozempic and Wegovy.
The lawsuits claim the companies downplayed side effects like gastroparesis, a condition where the stomach has trouble emptying itself.
“Defendants have downplayed the nature, duration, extent, and seriousness of gastrointestinal events and failed to warn about other adverse events caused by their GLP-1Ras,” read one lawsuit filed by Terry Smith of Indiana on July 31, 2025.
Smith claimed a result of using Ozempic, Trulicity, and Victoza, he suffered from gastroparesis, debilitating vomiting, debilitating abdominal pain, and required emergency medical treatment.
He’s seeking damages from Eli Lilly, which manufactures Trulicity, and Novo Nordisk, which makes Ozempic and Victoza.
Smith’s lawsuit and similar lawsuits allege instead of warning consumers about losing muscle, “Lilly has instead invested in developing combination drugs to combat the muscle loss.”
Smith’s lawsuit and similar lawsuits filed in recent months are still pending, records show.
WRTV Investigates reached out to Eli Lilly, the manufacturer of Zepbound and Mounjaro, as well as Novo Nordisk.
STATEMENT FROM ELI LILLY“Lilly is committed to making life better for people living with diabetes through developing medicines like Mounjaro and Trulicity that change the way healthcare providers can treat this disease. Patient safety is Lilly’s top priority, and we actively engage in monitoring, evaluating, and reporting safety information for all our medicines. Our medicines’ labels include robust, FDA-approved warnings.”
STATEMENT FROM NOVO NORDISK
“Semaglutide has been extensively examined in robust clinical development programs, large real-world-evidence studies and has cumulatively over 33 million patient years of exposure. Semaglutide’s efficacy and safety have been extensively demonstrated in people with obesity/overweight with robust evidence for improving health outcomes. Semaglutide has demonstrated improvements in CV death, stroke and myocardial infarction.
Novo Nordisk believes that the allegations in the lawsuits are without merit, and we intend to vigorously defend against these claims. Patient safety is our top priority at Novo Nordisk, and we work closely with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to continuously monitor the safety profile of our medicines. Novo Nordisk remains confident in the benefit-risk profile of our GLP-1 medicines, when used consistent with their indications and product labeling.”
Drug companies are making big bucks from GLP-1 medications.
Eli Lilly reported their revenue in Q3 2025 increased 54% to $17.60 billion driven by volume growth from Mounjaro and Zepbound.
U.S. regulators last month gave the green light to a pill version of the blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy made by Novo Nordisk, the first daily oral medication to treat obesity.
Sales of semaglutide, sold as Wegovy for obesity and Ozempic for diabetes, continued to rise in the third quarter and together brought in more than 51 billion Danish kroner, or about $7.9 billion.
Novo Nordisk also reported a 12% increase in sales in the first nine months of 2025.
On Wednesday on WRTV News at 6 pm, WRTV Investigates is digging into the financial links between pharmaceutical companies and Indiana doctors.
