Why a hidden message in Ozempic’s logo represents a big shift in drug branding

Ozempic, the ostensible diabetes medication, has quickly become a fad drug for its widespread off-label use as a weight-loss aid. But it may owe at least some of its popularity—and cultural currency—to its branding.

It’s true that like countless other prescription drugs, Ozempic has a name that is an agglomeration of syllables that initially seem odd and incompatible, but uncannily suggest some deeper significance that we are left to grasp at. Olympic? Open mic? The name is just as baffling as anything else in our pharmacist’s storeroom. But it’s Ozempic’s logo that manages to break away from the conventions of prescription drug branding.