Can weight loss drugs interfere with birth control drugs? What to know about "Ozempic babies"

BOSTON – According to Healthline, women have been reporting on social media that they have become pregnant while taking GLP-1 weight loss drugs like Ozempic, including women who say they were taking precautions to avoid pregnancy. 

Turns out, these drugs can affect absorption of the birth control pill in the gut and reduce its effectiveness. Patients should use alternative methods of birth control while taking these medications. 

The drugs may also boost fertility by promoting weight loss. But patients should not use these drugs to try to conceive because these drugs could potentially pose serious risks to a pregnancy.

In fact, it is advised that patients stop taking Ozempic, for example, at least two months before trying to conceive and to discontinue these drugs as soon as one discovers they are pregnant. 

Research is currently underway to study the effects of these weight loss drugs on pregnancy, but if you're trying to conceive or do conceive while using these medications, call your doctor right away to find out how to proceed.

In:
• Health
• Ozempic
• Pregnancy

Mallika Marshall, MD

Mallika Marshall, MD is an Emmy-award-winning journalist and physician who has served as the HealthWatch Reporter for CBS Boston/WBZ-TV for over 20 years. A practicing physician Board Certified in both Internal Medicine and Pediatrics, Dr. Marshall serves on staff at Harvard Medical School and practices at Massachusetts General Hospital at the MGH Chelsea Urgent Care and the MGH Revere Health Center, where she is currently working on the frontlines caring for patients with COVID-19. She is also a host and contributing editor for Harvard Health Publications (HHP), the publishing division of Harvard Medical School.

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