Monitoring report: GLP-1 RA prescribing trends
Date: April 18, 2024
Abstract
Background
Limited recent data exist on prescribing patterns and patient characteristics for glucagon-like peptide 1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs), an important drug class used as anti-diabetic medication (ADM) for patients with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2D) and/or anti-obesity medication (AOM) in patients with overweight or obesity.
For brevity, we use the term GLP-1 RA to refer to both GLP-1 RA and dual GLP-1 RA/GIP medications.
Objective
To describe recent trends in prescribing and dispensing of GLP-1-based medications in the US.
Methods
Using a subset of real-world electronic health record (EHR) data from Truveta, a growing collective of health systems that provide more than 18% of all daily clinical care in the US, we identified patients who were prescribed a GLP-1-based medication between January 01, 2018 and June 30, 2024. We describe prescribing volumes and patient characteristics over time, by medication, and by FDA-labeled use. Among the subset of patients for whom post-prescription dispensing data are available, we describe the proportion and characteristics of patients who were and were not dispensed a GLP-1 RA following their prescription.
Results
1,162,662 patients were prescribed a GLP-1 RA between January 2018 and June 2024, with 4,815,135 total prescriptions during this period. Among first-time prescriptions for which use could be established, ADMs accounted for 83.0% and AOMs accounted for 17.0%. The most common first-time medication was semaglutide (n = 644,272). Among those with available data, 70.0% of first-time ADM prescriptions overall and 73.7% in March 2024 had a fill within 60 days. By comparison, 43.6% of first-time AOM prescriptions overall and 47.2% in March 2024 had a fill within 60 days.