How Many GLP-1 Users Must Seek Medical Care for Side Effects?

GLP-1 drugs continue to dominate the pharmaceutical landscape. The medication is popular for its weight loss applications, and major pharmaceutical companies continue to introduce new versions of these medications. In late March, FDA approved a high dose injectable version of Wegovy through its accelerated approval program. Around the same time, Novo Nordisk announced a new multi-month subscription program for Wegovy for telehealth providers.

Clearly, the drugs are still popular. However, new data collected by Phenomix and the Mayo Clinic suggests that patients seeking the drug may not be fully aware of how the medication works and what the side effects are.

Phenomix’s CEO Mark Bagnall spoke with Pharmaceutical Executive about this data and what the impact is on GLP-1 users.

Pharmaceutical Executive: How many GLP-1 users must seek medical care for side effects?
Mark Bagnall: The survey we did was quite surprising with the extent of the side effects. I've seen other publications and other surveys that suggest that side effects are affecting 30-40% of patients, maybe more than that. We have before seen 50-60% of patients really struggling with these side effects.

What was surprising is the degree to which these side effects were costing patients. A large number of patients are spending about $1,000 in out-of-pocket costs just to manage the side effects. That seemed like a lot, but the fact that there were 10% of patients who were spending $5,000, that's a lot.

The fact is that is what we're now seeing. The cost of a year supply of drugs and these over-the-counter markets is about $5,000. A significant number of patients spend $5,000 just managing side effects. That was a really surprising finding, and if you translate that into the total number of people who could potentially use a GLP one medications, that's just an unsustainable number.