Elon Musk is seemingly slimming down after upgrading from Ozempic to a medication that has been hailed the ‘King Kong’ of weight loss drugs.
Musk, 53, admitted to taking Mounjaro, a drug that typically treats type-2 diabetes by lowering a person’s blood sugar levels, in a festive holiday post on his social media platform X.
The billionaire Tesla CEO posted a pictured of himself in a Santa Claus costume posing in front of a Christmas tree and wrote, ‘Ozempic Santa’.
He added: ‘Like Cocaine Bear, but Santa and Ozempic! Technically, Mounjaro, but that doesn’t have the same ring to it.’
Musk had previously been taking Ozempic, another diabetes medication that has been widely used by celebrities to shred weight, but sought an alternative after ‘high doses’ of the drug caused him to ‘fart and burp like Barney from The Simpsons’.
He claims that ‘Mounjaro seems to have fewer side effects’ and appears to be ‘more effective’, The Telegraph reported.
Mounjaro was approved by the Food and Drug Administration to serve as weight management drug in November 2023 under the brand name Zepbound.
The medication was nicknamed the ‘King Kong’ of weight loss drugs because experts say it is more effective for shifting the pounds than similar drugs.
But doctors earlier this month issued a stark warning about misleading statements on the medications’ safety and risk of severe injuries, including stomach paralysis, gallbladder issues and pancreatitis.
Elon Musk, dressed in a Santa costume and standing in front of Christmas tree, revealed Wednesday that he was on Mounjaro, a drug similar to Ozempic
Musk (pictured earlier this month) had previously been taking Ozempic, another diabetes medication that has been widely used by celebrities to shred weight, but sought an alternative after ‘high doses’ of the drug caused him to ‘fart and burp like Barney from The Simpsons’
Musk – pictured in 2022, before his weight loss journey began – has openly expressed his support for weight loss drugs. He said just two weeks ago that ‘nothing would do more to improve the health, lifespan and quality of life for Americans than making GLP inhibitors super low cost to the public. Nothing else is even close’
Mounjaro, an injectable GLP-1 inhibitor, works by reducing food cravings and making the stomach to empty more slowly, resulting in weight loss.
Studies revealed that patients taking Mounjaro typically lost more than 20 per cent of their body weight, compared with less than 14 per cent when on semaglutide – the key ingredient in competitors Wegovy and Ozempic.
Research has suggested that expanding public access to GLP-1 drugs could save 42,000 lives in the US annually, including 11,000 Type-2 diabetes patients.
Musk, who was selected to run President-elect Donald Trump‘s new Department of Government Efficiency, has openly expressed his support for weight loss drugs.
Just two weeks ago the SpaceX billionaire said ‘nothing would do more to improve the health, lifespan and quality of life for Americans than making GLP inhibitors super low cost to the public. Nothing else is even close.’
But Republicans are seemingly divided on whether the incoming administration should continue with President Joe Biden‘s plan to expand coverage of anti-obesity medications for American utilizing federally funded healthcare programs.
Dr Mehmet Oz, the celebrity TV doctor Trump appointed to run the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services next year, is one of the biggest supporters of weight-loss medication.
However, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. – a member of Trump’s inner circle who was nominated to lead the Department of Health and Human Services – has made his opposition to drugs as a primary method of battling obesity incredibly public.
RFK Jr. previously said that although weight loss drugs ‘have a place’, the ‘first line of response should be lifestyle’ changes.
Some of the most well known GLP-1 drugs are Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro and Zepbound.
A noticeably pudgy Elon Musk goes for a walk in Sun Valley, Idaho on July 7, 2015
Elon Musk’s weight has seemingly fluctuated over the years. He is pictured in December 2018, left, and November 2019, right
Elon Musk is pictured at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida in September 2021 to see off the all-civilian SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket crew
The weight loss drugs appeared to be working with Musk looking a lot slimmer earlier this month. He is pictured at the reopening ceremony of Notre-Dame Cathedral in Paris, on December 7, 2024
But Musk’s views on weight loss drugs aren’t completely in line with those of Robert Kennedy Jr., who could soon lead the Department of Health and Human Services if the Senate confirms him. Musk is pictured with Donald Trump, RFK Jr, Donald Jr, and speaker Mike Johnson as they ate McDo0nald’s while onboard Trump Force One last month
Musk’s views aren’t completely in line with Robert Kennedy Jr.’s. RFK Jr. could soon lead the Department of Health and Human Services if the Senate confirms him
The above graphic shows how weight-loss drug Mounjaro – also known as tirzepatide – works. It suppresses hunger by mimicking hormones indicating that the body is full. It also slows the passage of food through the stomach by reducing the production of stomach acid and contractions of the muscle
Shortly after his nomination in mid-November, RFK Jr. joined Greg Gutfeld’s late night show to decry how an estimated 9 million prescriptions are written every year in the US for weight loss drugs like Ozempic.
‘We are spending $1.6k a month on this drug. There is a bill right now before Congress that will make it available to everybody who is overweight… that alone will cost $3trillion a year.
‘If we spend about one fifth of that giving good food, three meals a day, to every man, woman and child in our country, we could solve the obesity and diabetes epidemic overnight.’
However, RFK Jr. slightly changed his tune on Ozempic during an interview with CNBC at the New York Stock Exchange on December 12, the day Trump was invited to ring the opening bell.
RFK Jr.’s heel turn also came a day after Musk, who has become one of Trump’s closest allies and supporters, publicly threw his support behind the drug.
‘The first line of response should be lifestyle. It should be eating well, making sure you that you don’t get obese, and that those GLP drugs have a place,’ RFK Jr. said.
Trump himself has been the subject of the Ozempic rumors that have plagued almost everyone rich and famous that has gotten slimmer in recent months.
Back in May, when Trump was the presumptive Republican presidential nominee, Joy Behar of ‘The View’ blurted that he was on Ozempic after cohost Sunny Hostin said he looked ‘thinner’ when she saw him in person.
Hostin saw him outside his hush money trial in Manhattan and commented on both his complexion and his weight.
‘It’s a burnt sienna. I had never seen him in person and I didn’t realize he was that orange. Ana [Navarro] has been making jokes about how orange he is… it’s almost like a radioactive orange,’ Hostin said about Trump.
Sunny continued: ‘It’s very shocking to see in person, it really is, because he’s a tall person and also a little thinner now, I don’t know if he’s taking the shot or whatever…’ before Joy butted in and claimed: ‘He’s on Ozempic, you know it!’
Trump recently knocked his Ozempic-supporting ally down a peg after Democrats and social media users alike derisively called him ‘vice president’ and suggested Musk was really running the show.
Speaking for more than hour at the conservative Turning Point USA’s annual AmericaFest conference in Phoenix on Sunday, Trump vented that even if Musk wanted to be president, he couldn’t.
‘No, he’s not going to be president, that I can tell you,’ Trump told the crowd.
‘And I’m safe. You know why he can’t be? He wasn’t born in this country,’ he continued.
Musk, the world’s richest man, spent more than a quarter of a billion dollars to help the Republican president-elect win a second term and has been a near constant presence at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago home ever since.
There have been growing concerns about misleading statements on the drugs’ safety and risk of severe gastrointestinal injury, including stomach paralysis and gallbladder issues
Musk has also become a near constant presence in Trump’s day-to-day activities, to the point that some Democrats have questioned who’s really in charge
Tirzepatide, available as Mounjaro, has been hailed a ‘game-changing’ treatment for weight loss, but like all drugs it is not without side-effects.
There have been growing concerns about the drug’s safety and risk of severe injuries, including stomach paralysis and gallbladder issues.
Doctors have also warned that pancreatitis — when the pancreas suddenly becomes inflamed — is another ‘rare but serious side effect’ of Mounjaro.
If left untreated, pancreatitis can lead to life-threatening complications such as multiple organ failure, kidney problems and breathing issues.
Studies have already suggested there may be a link between Mounjaro and an increased risk of pancreatitis — when the pancreas suddenly becomes inflamed.
However, there isn’t enough evidence yet to prove who is at increased risk of this side effect and why the drug could trigger it.
