Employer coverage pullbacks, new federal policy and product safety concerns are shaping the GLP-1 landscape. Here are nine GLP-1 updates to know:
- The share of U.S. employers covering GLP-1s for weight loss fell from 57% to 53%, the first decline in three years. Of employers that still cover the drugs, 30% are considering eliminating coverage, and 91% of those that have dropped or are considering dropping coverage cite cost.
- HHS said it does not intend to take enforcement action against pharmacies that compound six unapproved peptides, including BPC-157 and TB-500, if they meet a set of conditions, according to an interim policy. The conditions include reporting serious adverse events to the FDA and states.
- Walgreens is expanding its GLP-1 services with insurance navigation, prior authorization support and pharmacist follow-up for patients starting treatment. Through Walgreens Weight Management, eligible patients can connect virtually with a physician or nurse practitioner for a $49 visit and receive a prescription for an FDA-approved GLP-1.
- A case report links tirzepatide to lithium toxicity in a 50-year-old woman with bipolar disorder, the fourth reported case. Her lithium level rose from 0.7 mmol/L to 1.2 mmol/L three weeks after she started weekly 2.5-milligram injections, and her symptoms resolved after her lithium dose was halved. An outside expert recommended checking lithium levels and kidney function within the first few weeks of starting a GLP-1.
- The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said GLP-1s may be an option while nursing for patients who stopped them for pregnancy, with close monitoring of the infant’s weight. The Oct. 23 advisory recommends against use during pregnancy and says to stop one to two months before conception. It advises against use while nursing preterm infants and neonates and says breastfeeding patients should avoid oral GLP-1s.
- Apothecary Pharma is recalling 22 vials of compounded tirzepatide injection nationwide over a lack of assurance of sterility. The FDA classified the recall as Class II.
- Patients taking GLP-1s had 11% lower odds of major cardiovascular complications and 8% lower odds of postoperative infections than matched patients not taking them, according to a study of more than 2 million adults presented Oct. 18 at the American Society of Anesthesiologists’ annual meeting. The authors said the observational study does not prove cause and effect.
- Roughly 1.1 million Medicare beneficiaries have signed up to access discounted GLP-1s through CMS’ Bridge model, HHS Chief Counselor Chris Klomp said. The pilot launched July 1.
- The FDA received reports that two people died after taking illicit products claiming to be Eli Lilly’s experimental drug retatrutide. The reports are unverified, and it is unclear whether the products caused the deaths. America’s Poison Centers logged 862 exposures to retatrutide in the three months ending in September, up from 460 in the prior three months.
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