Los Angeles,
23
February
2023
|
09:00 AM
America/Los_Angeles

Good Morning America: Is Ozempic Safe to Take During Pregnancy or While Trying to Conceive? Experts Weigh In

Good Morning America recently interviewed Amanda Velazquez, MD, director of Obesity Medicine in the Department of Surgery at Cedars-Sinai, about whether increasingly popular semaglutide or tirzepatide—medications that treat Type 2 diabetes and obesity—are safe for women who are pregnant or planning to become pregnant. The medications are marketed under brand names such as Ozempic, Mounjaro and Wegovy.

While more research is needed to see how these relatively new medications affect women of childbearing age, Velazquez told Good Morning America that they should not be taken during pregnancy.

“There have not been any studies that have been conducted to test these drugs in women who are currently pregnant, so they’re not at this time recommended,” Velazquez told Good Morning America.

In studies of pregnant animals on the medications, there were fetal complications, including development abnormalities, Velazquez said.

“For a human, what’s the effect on baby or mom? We don’t know,” she told Good Morning America.

Velazquez said the treatments also are not advised for those who are breastfeeding. But she said that women who are not pregnant should still consider the medications if their physician advises doing so.

“What we do is we start the drug, in conjunction with a healthy lifestyle plan, we help them lose weight, improve their weight-related medical conditions and optimize their health for a healthier pregnancy and a healthier overall being … and then you [can] resume the medication once you’re done breastfeeding,” Velazquez told Good Morning America.

She added that starting and stopping the medications should be done under a healthcare provider’s supervision.

Click here to read the complete article from Good Morning America.