With prescriptions rising, Ozempic and other drugs are still reaching just a fraction of the people who may benefit, and White patients are disproportionately receiving them.
Two injectable semaglutide drugs, which imitate the body’s GLP-1 hormone to help produce insulin and lower hunger, have been authorized by the FDA. Ozempic was authorized in 2017 for type 2 diabetes and Wegovy in 2021 for obesity.
Epic Research revealed exclusive data with CNN from millions of electronic health records showing that 1.7% of US residents were given semaglutide in 2023, up 40-fold over the preceding five years.
Despite blockbuster success, just a percent of those who may benefit from the medicines are receiving them. About 15% of US people have diabetes, and more than 40% have obesity, according to age-adjusted CDC figures, leaving millions more eligible for the much-heralded therapies.
Diabetes and obesity-afflicted populations have poor utilization rates, which have not improved despite the rise in medication.
Epic Research data reveals that White patients have received over 70% of semaglutide prescriptions since 2018. Despite having approximately 40% less diabetes and 17% less obesity, White individuals are four times more likely than Black people to be prescribed semaglutide.
“There is a major equity issue in terms of access to semaglutide that I certainly see in my practice on a day-to-day basis, largely because public insurance doesn’t cover weight loss medication — full stop,” said Dr. Jody Dushay, an endocrinologist at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and assistant professor of medicine at Harvard
Novo Nordisk’s CEO told CNN that Ozempic and Wegovy demand might take years to meet. As demand for Wegovy, a weight-loss semaglutide medicine, rises, the firm has limited initial dosages.
Due to rising demand for weight-loss medicines and Wegovy shortages, more doctors are prescribing Ozempic “off-label” for weight reduction instead of diabetes.
Novo Nordisk’s CEO told CNN that Ozempic and Wegovy demand might take years to meet. As demand for Wegovy, a weight-loss semaglutide medicine, rises, the firm has limited initial dosages.
Due to rising demand for weight-loss medicines and Wegovy shortages, more doctors are prescribing Ozempic “off-label” for weight reduction instead of diabetes.
certain clinicians have reported that certain diabetics receiving Ozempic have had trouble getting their meds, likely due to other patients utilizing the drug.
“At the start of this year, and definitely in the last two quarters of last year, we were running into a lot of shortages of Ozempic for our patients with type 2 diabetes,” said Northwestern Medicine, Lake Forest Hospital endocrinologist and obesity medicine director Dr. Disha Narang. Our type 2 diabetic patients couldn’t acquire their medicine, which was an issue.
Novo Nordisk says Ozempic and Wegovy are different.
We know Ozempic and Wegovy are popular. In line with our emphasis on continuity of care and access to novel medicines, we will responsibly distribute our current supply across markets as we enhance treatment supply to meet patient demand.
Since we sell to wholesalers, who supply retail pharmacies nationally, we cannot control which pharmacies or patients get Ozempic in the US. We appreciate every healthcare provider’s clinical competence and right to administer therapy based on their own medical judgment, but we urge that they prescribe our medications according to their FDA-approved indications.
Health care experts believe unequal access and rising off-label usage do not indicate semaglutide abuse.
Off-label prescription is common in medicine, so Narang said it’s not always malevolent or irresponsible. Those without diabetes but with severe heart failure and class III obesity require long-term medicinal weight control. Never mind if they have diabetes. Long-term weight loss assistance will aid their heart.”
“There isn’t a clinical answer to ‘for whom is this medication more important?’ ” Dushay said. “All those decision trees are just left to individual physicians, and it’s all over the map for me.”
Still, experts say that more can be done to help prioritize who has access to the limited supply of the medications.
The American Association of Clinical Endocrinology is developing an “obesity algorithm” to help stratify the risk of obesity and guide treatment decisions based on a holistic assessment of an individual’s clinical risk factors, which should be finalized in the next few months, according to Dr. Sethu Reddy, president of the professional community of physicians specializing in endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism.
“Ideally, those that are at the highest risk and with the greatest likelihood of benefiting should be at the head of the line,” he said.