Prescriptions for GLP-1 drugs have doubled among people with obesity At the same time, the proportion of people using the drugs to control type 2 diabetes has declined Semaglutide is being used disproportionately by females, whites and people with obesity TUESDAY, July 23, 2024 (HealthDay News) -- The boom in using GLP-1 drugs like to treat obesity has resulted in a bust regarding the drugs’ original purpose, which was to treat type 2 diabetes, a new study finds. New prescriptions for these drugs have doubled among people who have obesity but not diabetes, investigators found. As a result, drug shortages have triggered a drop in new prescriptions for type 2 diabetes, even though Ozempic and Mounjaro were initially developed as diabetes drugs, the researchers said.
Both drugs were later approved for weight loss under different brand names, and . “Essentially, after the medication was approved for obesity..
. use took off so quickly that we lost control and vision of how fast people were picking up these medications,” said lead researcher , medical director of the Cedars-Sinai GI Motility Program. For the study, researchers analyzed the medical data of about 45 million Americans between 2011 and 2023.
About 1 million people became new GLP-1 users during that period in time, results show. Researchers classified them based on whether they had diabetes, obesity or some other related medical condition. GLP-1 drugs work by adjusting a person’s hormone levels and suppressing appetite.
Semaglutide -- the drug sold as Ozempic and Wegovy -- is being prescribed disproportionately to females, whites, and those with a BMI of 30 or more, indicating obesity, results show. The findings were published July 22 in the . There has been a notable uptick in GLP-1 use since 2020, Rezaie noted.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration “This data suggests that more healthcare providers are seeing the benefits of these medications for treating obesity, which is a significant public health shift,” said lead researcher , a clinical fellow in the Karsh Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los AnGeles.
“However, it also raises concerns about potential medication shortages and the need to ensure that patients with diabetes still have access to these treatments,” Yeo said in a Cedars-Sinai news release. UCLA has more on . SOURCE: Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, news release, July 22, 2024 People with type 2 diabetes should talk with their doctor about whether a GLP-1 drug like semaglutide could help them.
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