Govt warns on rapid uptake of GLP-1 drugs, cites unknown long-term effects
Days before Ozempic’s India debut, Centre cautions that GLP-1 drugs carry unknown long-term risks and are being adopted faster than scientific evidence can support
- Dec 9, 2025,
- Updated Dec 9, 2025 5:24 PM IST
The central government has issued a caution over the rising use of GLP-1–based obesity drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy, stating that their long-term effects are still unclear despite growing demand. The remarks come just two days before the expected launch of Ozempic in India, at a time when global uptake of these drugs is accelerating.
Speaking at the India International Science Festival (IISF), Union Minister of State for Science and Technology and MoS PMO, Dr Jitendra Singh, said India must approach obesity treatment with scientific rigour and regulatory oversight. “Obesity has emerged as a public health challenge in India and is not a mere cosmetic issue. The challenge needs to be addressed with scientific precision and policy discipline,” he said during a panel discussion on clinician–scientist perspectives on obesity.
Urging caution on the growing, lifestyle-driven use of GLP-1 drugs, Dr Singh said that the long-term effects remain unknown and may take decades to evaluate. Drawing parallels with earlier public-health misjudgements, he cited the shift to refined oils in the 1970s and 1980s that later revealed adverse outcomes. “True clinical inference may come from observing outcomes over decades,” he said.
He also referred to emerging concerns associated with rapid or drug-induced weight loss, including muscle loss and the popularly described “Ozempic face,” noting that the full physiological impact is not yet clear.
A significant portion of his remarks focused on misinformation and unregulated advice on weight loss. Dr Singh said unqualified practitioners and self-styled dietitians are worsening India’s metabolic burden. “The challenge in India is not lack of awareness, but the explosive growth of disinformation. Every colony has a dietitian, but no system to verify their qualifications. Unchecked advice and untested formulas can do more harm than obesity itself,” he said, calling for mechanisms to safeguard patients.
He also pointed to the expanding spectrum of metabolic disorders. “Earlier every third OPD patient had undiagnosed diabetes; today every third patient has fatty liver. The spectrum is widening, and we need a far more scientific and regulated ecosystem to handle it,” he said.
The minister said that societal attitudes, market trends and misinformation have complicated India’s metabolic-health landscape. He noted that obesity was historically viewed as a cosmetic concern, which delayed serious medical discussion. “For decades, our medical conferences discussed diabetes and metabolic disorders, but never obesity. It is only in the last 15 years that we have even begun treating it as a subject of serious medical relevance,” he said.
Dr Singh highlighted India’s specific risk profile, including a higher prevalence of visceral fat in Asian populations. “For Indians, the waistline tells a more important story than the weighing scale,” he said, adding that visceral fat is an independent metabolic risk factor even when body weight appears normal.
The remarks come at a time when pharmaceutical companies are scaling up anti-obesity portfolios globally and India is set to see the formal entry of GLP-1 drugs for weight management, prompting regulators and clinicians to weigh the benefits and long-term risks of widespread consumer use.
“Several large clinical trials of GLP-1–based drugs have already followed patients for two to four years, providing substantial intermediate-term safety data. In addition, related “sister” incretin-based therapies have been in global clinical use for nearly two decades, giving us broad real-world experience and confidence in their overall safety profile,” said Dr Anoop Misra, Chairman of Fortis C-DOC Hospital for Diabetes and Allied Sciences and Director of the National Diabetes Obesity and Cholesterol Foundation (NDOC).
“Overall, we and others in India have had good experience with these drugs. That said, as with any long-term metabolic therapy, continued diligence is essential. Ongoing monitoring for rare adverse effects, attention to nutrition and muscle health, and careful patient selection remain critical while we accumulate longer-term outcome data,” he said.
The central government has issued a caution over the rising use of GLP-1–based obesity drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy, stating that their long-term effects are still unclear despite growing demand. The remarks come just two days before the expected launch of Ozempic in India, at a time when global uptake of these drugs is accelerating.
Speaking at the India International Science Festival (IISF), Union Minister of State for Science and Technology and MoS PMO, Dr Jitendra Singh, said India must approach obesity treatment with scientific rigour and regulatory oversight. “Obesity has emerged as a public health challenge in India and is not a mere cosmetic issue. The challenge needs to be addressed with scientific precision and policy discipline,” he said during a panel discussion on clinician–scientist perspectives on obesity.
Urging caution on the growing, lifestyle-driven use of GLP-1 drugs, Dr Singh said that the long-term effects remain unknown and may take decades to evaluate. Drawing parallels with earlier public-health misjudgements, he cited the shift to refined oils in the 1970s and 1980s that later revealed adverse outcomes. “True clinical inference may come from observing outcomes over decades,” he said.
He also referred to emerging concerns associated with rapid or drug-induced weight loss, including muscle loss and the popularly described “Ozempic face,” noting that the full physiological impact is not yet clear.
A significant portion of his remarks focused on misinformation and unregulated advice on weight loss. Dr Singh said unqualified practitioners and self-styled dietitians are worsening India’s metabolic burden. “The challenge in India is not lack of awareness, but the explosive growth of disinformation. Every colony has a dietitian, but no system to verify their qualifications. Unchecked advice and untested formulas can do more harm than obesity itself,” he said, calling for mechanisms to safeguard patients.
He also pointed to the expanding spectrum of metabolic disorders. “Earlier every third OPD patient had undiagnosed diabetes; today every third patient has fatty liver. The spectrum is widening, and we need a far more scientific and regulated ecosystem to handle it,” he said.
The minister said that societal attitudes, market trends and misinformation have complicated India’s metabolic-health landscape. He noted that obesity was historically viewed as a cosmetic concern, which delayed serious medical discussion. “For decades, our medical conferences discussed diabetes and metabolic disorders, but never obesity. It is only in the last 15 years that we have even begun treating it as a subject of serious medical relevance,” he said.
Dr Singh highlighted India’s specific risk profile, including a higher prevalence of visceral fat in Asian populations. “For Indians, the waistline tells a more important story than the weighing scale,” he said, adding that visceral fat is an independent metabolic risk factor even when body weight appears normal.
The remarks come at a time when pharmaceutical companies are scaling up anti-obesity portfolios globally and India is set to see the formal entry of GLP-1 drugs for weight management, prompting regulators and clinicians to weigh the benefits and long-term risks of widespread consumer use.
“Several large clinical trials of GLP-1–based drugs have already followed patients for two to four years, providing substantial intermediate-term safety data. In addition, related “sister” incretin-based therapies have been in global clinical use for nearly two decades, giving us broad real-world experience and confidence in their overall safety profile,” said Dr Anoop Misra, Chairman of Fortis C-DOC Hospital for Diabetes and Allied Sciences and Director of the National Diabetes Obesity and Cholesterol Foundation (NDOC).
“Overall, we and others in India have had good experience with these drugs. That said, as with any long-term metabolic therapy, continued diligence is essential. Ongoing monitoring for rare adverse effects, attention to nutrition and muscle health, and careful patient selection remain critical while we accumulate longer-term outcome data,” he said.