Research
Hormonal
GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1 RAs) are primarily prescribed as anti-diabetic medications (ADMs) rather than anti-obesity medications (AOMs), with 71.8% of first-time prescriptions designated for diabetes management and only 28.2% for obesity.
While GLP-1 medications like semaglutide and tirzepatide are famous for weight loss, the vast majority of prescriptions (over 70%) are for treating Type 2 Diabetes. If you are seeking these medications for weight loss, you may face higher costs and insurance hurdles because they are not primarily covered for obesity in many cases.
GoodQualifiesHIGH confidence
Among first-time prescriptions for which use could be established, ADMs accounted for 71.8% and AOMs accounted for 28.2%.
Why this rating
Large-scale real-world data (2.4M patients) from Truveta, though not peer-reviewed.
Source
Monitoring Report: GLP-1 RA Prescribing Trends – March 2026 Data
Samuel Gratzl et al. · medRxiv · 2025
DOI 10.1101/2025.03.06.25323524
preprint · n=2454615Cited 9×
Read the paper DOI resolved against Crossref · corpus check 2026-06-10
More from this paper
- There is a significant disparity in medication initiation rates between diabetes and obesity indications, with 72.2% of diabetes prescriptions filled within 60 days compared to only 46.8% of obesity prescriptions.Good
- Tirzepatide has surpassed semaglutide as the most commonly prescribed first-time GLP-1 RA medication in the US as of September 2025.Good
Related findings · Hormonal
- Initial treatment for type 2 diabetes should be a combination of metformin and either an SGLT-2 inhibitor or a GLP-1 receptor agonist to achieve cardiorenal protection, rather than monotherapy or older agents like sulfonylureas.Strong
- For patients with specific monogenic obesity syndromes (leptin deficiency, POMC/PCSK1/LEPR mutations), targeted pharmacotherapy (recombinant leptin or setmelanotide) is highly effective and should be prioritized, unlike in polygenic obesity.Strong
- Continued weekly administration of 2.4 mg subcutaneous semaglutide prevents weight regain and promotes further weight loss in adults with overweight or obesity, whereas switching to placebo results in significant weight regain.Strong
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