Off the Scales: The Inside Story of Ozempic and the Race to Cure Obesity

Off the Scales: The Inside Story of Ozempic and the Race to Cure Obesity

Aimee Donnellan

#3144 of 3,809 books · #403 in Science & Technology

Shortlisted for the Financial Times and Standard Chartered Business Book of the Year Award (2026).

A 'cure' for obesity has long evaded the pharmaceutical industry, until the development of Ozempic: a diabetes medication that targets the GLP-1 hormone and makes people feel fuller for longer. After decades of research, Ozempic's creator Novo Nordisk quickly became one of the most valuable companies in Europe. Now it struggles to keep up with its rivals in an explosive and lucrative market for weight-loss injections. The treatment is so effective that it's already disrupted industries from healthcare to fast food to fashion. Financial investment has skyrocketed and public demand continues to soar alongside celebrity endorsements. Beyond million-dollar profits, countless lives could now be saved from preventable diseases, but one question remains: are these drugs too good to be true? Through original reporting and rigorous research, Aimee Donnellan uncovers the complicated history of a medical breakthrough that is changing the world, while raising difficult questions about inequality, morality, our beauty ideals and the pursuit of thinness. Along the way, Donnellan profiles the female scientist whose contributions to the discovery of GLP-1 were overlooked and some of the earliest Ozempic users share powerful testimonies. Off the Scales is a revelatory, gripping and urgent study of the unexpected consequences of finally getting what we've wanted for so long.