After three years, only about 1 in 12 individuals taking GLP-1s to treat obesity remained on the therapy, according to a Prime Therapeutics study published on June 25.
Prime is owned by 19 Blue Cross and Blue Shield plans and manages pharmacy benefits for about 73 million people.
The data analyzed was sourced from Prime’s integrated pharmacy and medical claims of 174,519 commercially insured adult members who began GLP-1 therapy between January 2021 and March 2022. The study excluded those with diabetes and included only individuals who met the criteria of continuous enrollment. Adherence was measured by the proportion of days covered with a threshold of 80% for defining adherence. Persistence was determined by whether members had a gap of 60 days or more without refilling their GLP-1 prescription during the three-year period.
Four notes:
1. After three years, 8.1% of individuals were still taking GLP-1s, with weekly Wegovy users showing the highest persistence rates at 14.3% and daily Victoza users showing the lowest at 2.5%.
2. Over the three years, 37.5% of members switched GLP-1 drugs, and 12.5% continued to take their medication regularly for at least 80% of the time.
3. One-year persistence showed improvement, with Wegovy and Zepbound showing persistence rates of 62.7% and 62.6%, respectively, in 2024.
4. The improvement in one-year Wegovy persistence from 33.2% in 2021 to 62.7% in 2024 was attributed to the resolution of supply chain issues for obesity-indicated GLP-1s. Other potential explanations include improved GLP-1 dose escalation and side-effect management, as well as care and lifestyle management programs.
