Monitoring Report: GLP-1 RA Prescribing Trends - December 2024 Data

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 people who were prescribed a GLP-1-based medication between January 01, 2018 and December 31, 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 is available, we describe the proportion and characteristics of patients who were and were not dispensed a GLP-1 RA following their prescription.

Results

1,828,203 patients were prescribed a GLP-1 RA between January 2018 and December 2024, with 8,412,584 total prescriptions during this period. Across the full study period, among first-time prescriptions for which use could be established, ADMs accounted for 77.2% and AOMs accounted for 22.8%. The most common first-time medication was semaglutide (n = 1,016,220). During December 2024, overall AOM prescribing was highest for tirzepatide (+21.95%). Among those with available data, 67.3% of first-time ADM prescriptions overall and 69.0% in September 2024 had a fill within 60 days. By comparison, 43.6% of first-time AOM prescriptions overall and 48.7% in September 2024 had a fill within 60 days.