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Demand for Wegovy and other GLP-1 drugs used to treat obesity and diabetes has increased, but new Report It suggests that many people may not be sticking to their weight loss treatment long enough.
An analysis of health insurance claims released Tuesday showed that the majority of people using GLP-1 drugs — about 58% — were on their treatment plan for less than 12 weeks, which is below a key metric in weight loss treatment timelines. Professional organizations refer to this as a Instruction When to reassess whether the treatment is providing clinically meaningful weight loss.
Users start these drugs in small doses and gradually increase them over time until you reach the target size. But the analysis showed that nearly a third of people – more than 30% – quit after the first four weeks of treatment before reaching the target dose.
The findings are based on data from nearly 170,000 pharmacy and medical claims for insurance coverage under Blue Cross Blue Shield plans for GLP-1 drugs approved to treat weight management between 2014 and 2023.
“These are long-term medications to treat chronic disease,” said Dr. Disha Narang, an endocrinologist and director of obesity treatment at Endeavor Health in Chicago. He did not participate in the new study. “This is an absolute marathon, not a sprint. And when we treat this as a sprint, I think patients can come off the medication faster.
Experts say one of the many reasons patients may stop treatment is impatience. According to the new KFF, only two-thirds of adults who use injectable weight-loss drugs say they feel they are effective. Poll. Those who stopped using the drugs were much less optimistic about their benefits: only about half of those who had previously used injectable weight-loss drugs said they were effective, compared with nearly three-quarters of those who actively used the treatment.
Side effects – such as nausea, diarrhoea, vomiting and constipation in the past – can also put people off. Data from Wegovy's longest clinical trial showed that 17% of people using the drug experienced side effects and decided to stop participating in the trial.
But experts say that there are many obstacles when giving proper advice from the service provider.
“With frequent touch points, if you don't have frequent interactions, it's really hard to control side effects. Managing expectations is hard. Dr. Jody Dushay, an endocrinologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and an assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School, says it's hard to see if there is an improvement in these other metabolic diseases. He did not participate in the new study.
Each person responds to treatment differently and evaluates the balance of costs and benefits to their health.
“There is no line in the sand for everyone. “Physicians and patients need to look at all the information and make decisions about treatment together,” she said.
Results from the Blue Cross Blue Shield data underscore the important role providers can play in helping patients continue their treatment with GLP-1.
People who interact with their providers more often—and who live in regions with greater health equity—are more likely to discontinue GLP-1 therapy sooner. Each additional follow-up visit increases the patient's chance of staying on treatment by 60%, said Dr. Razia Hashmi, vice president of clinical affairs for the Blue Cross and Blue Shield Association.
And while most prescriptions come from primary care physicians, GLP-1s prescribed by endocrinologists or others with experience in weight management are more likely to receive at least 12 weeks of continuous treatment.
“Comprehensive support services really make a difference – one has lifestyle support management, nutrition, diet and side effect management, and” health equity issues. Social drivers of health—transportation, food availability, socioeconomic status—all make a difference.
Cost can often be a prohibitive factor for these drugs – a month's worth of GLP-1 drugs can often be provided Cost About $1,000 — but the analysis only included people with insurance plans that cover weight-loss drugs. Insurance plan copays may affect cost estimates, but the individuals in this analysis did not pay out-of-pocket for their treatment.
But using GLP-1 therapies is still an investment in many ways.
“Whether it's an employer trying to make a decision or an individual trying to make a decision, it's really important to understand the success factors,” Hashmi said. We want the investment to pay off.
Another new one Report It supports the claim that the benefits of GLP-1 are prolonged with long-term and continuous treatment.
One of the first reports to provide real-world data on the effectiveness of GLP-1 showed that people using the drug lost an average of 1.4% of their body weight after three months. After a full year on the treatment. The analysis, from Dandelion Health, a healthcare analytics firm, is based on electronic health records of nearly 17,000 people prescribed GLP-1 from 2019 to 2023.
Compared to a group of people with the same set of clinical characteristics – closely matched on demographic factors such as age and ethnicity, medical indicators such as average body mass index and prevalence of diabetes, medical history such as bariatric surgery and prevalence of related comorbidities – by GLP-1 It has been confirmed in the study that people who are on
These injectable drugs, called GLP-1 agonists, are in high demand because they have been shown to be very effective in weight loss. In clinical trials, some strong drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound have been found to help people lose weight At least 10% of their initial weight. But A new report suggests that real-world efficacy is not as promising as clinical trial data suggests.
And experts warn that the process of GLP-1 treatment may be different for everyone.
“There are some people who don't respond, there are some people who are hyper-responders, and there are people who respond as expected to the drug,” Narang said. Research is still being done to understand why.
Data from Dandelion Health showed that 10% of people who responded well to GLP-1 had results that mirrored those found in clinical trials, but the 10% who had less success with the treatments did not change weight, or gain weight, over time.
Still, GLP-1 drugs may have benefits beyond weight loss — for heart and liver health, for example — and even for people who haven't lost as many pounds as they'd hoped, experts say.
“You have to stay on this drug. It's very important not to use the measurement as the only outcome. People may be making slow but steady progress, which may warrant continued treatment,” Dushay said. You should have a long discussion with your doctor about why you are using medication.”