In the news: Most patients using weight-loss drugs like Wegovy stop within a year
In the news: Most patients using weight-loss drugs like Wegovy stop within a year
Only about one-third of patients prescribed a popular weight-loss drug like Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy were still taking it a year later, while total healthcare costs for the group rose sharply, according to an analysis of U.S. pharmacy claims shared with Reuters.
Article: Exclusive: Most patients using weight-loss drugs like Wegovy stop within a year, data show - Reuters, 11 July 2023 Wayback Link
Some lede and pullquotes for basic facts just in case you hit a paywall:
Only about one-third of patients prescribed a popular weight-loss drug like Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy were still taking it a year later [...]
The analysis by [...] reviewed pharmacy and medical claims data for 4,255 people with commercial health plans. They had all received new prescriptions of the drugs from a class known as GLP-1 agonists between January and December 2021, and had a diagnosis of obesity, prediabetes or a body mass index of 30 or higher.
Overall, 32% of the patients were still taking the medicine for weight loss a year after their initial prescription [...] and the results did not differ materially based which of the drugs was prescribed
Patrick Gleason [...] a co-author of the analysis, said this real-world data suggests a substantial drop in adherence compared to what was reported in clinical trials. In trials with adults, Novo found that 6.8% of patients taking Wegovy discontinued treatment due to gastrointestinal problems and other adverse events.
Prime did not ask patients why their prescriptions stopped. [...] All the patients had insurance coverage for GLP-1 drugs.
This article is very interesting to me and prompts the question, why are people stopping? Were you prescribed one of these drugs, did you stop taking it?
It says they all had insurance coverage for the medication but I wonder if they became unqualified for the medication after losing just enough weight to no longer be in the qualifying BMI or A1C range? Technically I have insurance coverage for Ozempic, but only if I’m diabetic, which I’m not. I could see starting on a GLP1 drug while arguing with insurance, using physicians samples and manufacturer’s coupons, and then giving up after a few months. It’s very expensive and insurance companies are pushing hard to limit how much they pay out.
I think you’re supposed to stay on the medication for years or maybe forever in order to maintain the weight loss. Some people do have terrible side effects, I don’t think I could take it if it made me really nauseous all the time.