A nationwide study revealed a significant rise in new prescriptions for Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists (GLP-1RAs) over the past decade, with a notable increase since 2020. Semaglutide emerged as the most prescribed GLP-1RA in 2023. Interestingly, while the proportion of new users with type 2 diabetes decreased, prescriptions surged among individuals with obesity or related comorbidities but without type 2 diabetes (1^✔ ✔Trusted Source
Shifting Trends in the Indication of Glucagon-like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonist Prescriptions

Go to source

).

Obesity Epidemic and GLP-1RA Demand May Fuel Drug Shortages

The study authors suggest that the high prevalence of obesity and rising demand for GLP-1RAs for obesity may lead to drug shortages and exacerbate existing racial and ethnic disparities in drug access. This brief research report is published in the Annals of Internal Medicine.

‘The significant increase in #GLP-1RA prescriptions for #obesity in patients without type 2 #diabetes underscores a growing demand that may strain resources and amplify disparities in access.’
      

Researchers from the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania and Cedars-Sinai studied data from TriNetX, a federated health research network with records for 45 million individuals in the United States, to delineate the annual trend in new prescriptions of GLP-1RAs between 2011 and 2023, categorized by the presence of diabetes and comorbid conditions related to diabetes or obesity. New prescriptions were defined as users who received GLP-1RAs for the first time in their records in the TrinetX database.

The data showed that of the 1 million new GLP-1RA users identified during the study timeframe, users were disproportionately female, non-Hispanic White, and had a BMI of 30 kg/m2 or greater.

During the same period, there was a 2-fold increase in the proportions of users without type 2 diabetes but with a BMI of 30 kg/m2 or greater, or in those with a BMI of 27 to 30 kg/m2 and an obesity-related comorbid condition.

Additionally, the proportion of users without FDA-approved indications increased from 0.21% in 2019 to 0.37% in 2023.

In 2019, semaglutide and liraglutide constituted 31.4% and 35.3% of all new GLP-1RA prescriptions, respectively. In 2023, these proportions increased to 88.1% for semaglutide, and decreased to 10.3% for liraglutide.

Reference:

1. Shifting Trends in the Indication of Glucagon-like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonist Prescriptions – (https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M24-0019)

Source-Eurekalert