More than 75% of patients taking Ozempic and Wegovy for weight loss stopped their treatments within two years, according to a new analysis.
The analysis shared with Reuters provides insight into how long patients taking a popular class of diabetes and weight loss drugs known as GLP-1s stay on them — a factor which analysts say could impact future sale figures. Prime Therapeutics and the pharmacy benefits manager Magellan Rx Management analyzed pharmacy and medical records for 3,364 patients that received new prescriptions to GLP-1 treatments for weight loss between January and December 2021. GLP-1 drugs work by mimicking a hormone that regulates blood sugar and suppresses a user’s appetite.
The analysis excluded patients who were prescribed the treatments for type 2 diabetes. It found that only 24.1% of patients on Wegovy continued the treatment after two years, without a gap of 60 days or more. And only 22.2% of patients taking Ozempic continued filling their prescriptions two years after starting the treatment.
Patrick Gleason, the assistant vice president of health outcomes at Prime and Magellan, told Reuters that this was was likely due to a combination of side effects, out-of-pocket costs, and supply shortages.
Skyrocketing demand for GLP-1 drugs has led to ongoing shortages for Wegovy, but future sales figures could be impacted on how long current patients keep taking these drugs.
The financial services company Moody’s Ratings recently projected that sales for current market leaders — Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy, and Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro and Zepbound — could reach $80 billion in 2030.
But the agency also projected different scenarios for the adoption of these drugs. One scenario, in which patients are only taking GLP-1 drugs for about 12 months, could result in 20 million Americans being on a GLP-1 medication by 2030. If patients stay on these medications for longer than a year, uptake of GLP-1 drugs could reach 30 million by 2030.