How a Diabetes Drug Became the Talk of Hollywood, Tech and the Hamptons.

 At least once a day, Nancy Rahnama’s clinical nutrition practice in Beverly Hills, Calif., gets a call from a patient looking for a diabetes drug that they’ve heard can help them lose weight fast.

“They specifically say, ‘How much is it to get Ozempic?’” Dr. Rahnama said.

Ozempic, which is taken by injection in the thigh, stomach or arm, was approved by the Food and Drug Administration in 2017 to help lower blood sugar in people with Type 2 diabetes. One Ozempic injection pen typically lasts about a month and costs about $900 before insurance, though coverage can be hard to come by. 

The brand is not approved by the FDA for weight loss. But recently, Ozempic and other drugs of its kind have become the subject of conversations about weight loss, thinness and so-called biohacking in Hollywood, the tech industry and beyond.

Ozempic, made by Novo Nordisk A/S, is one of several brand-name drugs on the market containing an antidiabetic ingredient called semaglutide. Semaglutide stimulates insulin production and also targets areas of the brain that regulate appetite, according to the FDA. The federal agency has approved semaglutide for weight loss under the brand name Wegovy, which Novo Nordisk sells at a higher price than its cousin Ozempic.

Elon Musk, the Tesla and SpaceX CEO who has more than 100 million followers on Twitter, tweeted this month that he was taking Wegovy in combination with fasting to lose weight. Mr. Musk could not be reached for comment.