Only one in four U.S. patients prescribed Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy or Ozempic for weight loss were still taking the popular medications two years later, according to an analysis of U.
S. pharmacy claims provided to Reuters that also showed a steady decline in use over time. The analysis does not include details about why patients quit.
But it does offer a longer view on the real-world experiences of patients taking the drugs than previous research that studied use over a year or less. Evidence that many people may stop using the weight-loss therapies not long after starting is influencing a debate over their cost to patients, employers and government health plans . Wegovy and similar medicines, which belong to a class of drugs known as GLP-1 receptor agonists, can cost more than $1,000 per month, and may require extended use to yield meaningful benefits.
Their U.S. prices have drawn fire recently from President Joe Biden and other public officials , who said such drugs could cost the country $411 billion per year if only half of adults with obesity used them.
That is $5 billion more than Americans spent on all prescription drugs in 2022. “GLP-1s for all isn’t cost effective,” said Dr. Rekha Kumar, an obesity specialist at New York Presbyterian-Weill Cornell Medical Center and chief medical officer at Found, an online weight-loss program.
“People want to provide obesity care to their employees, but they want to do it in a way that doesn’t bankrupt them.” Prime Therap.
