1 in 8 adults in the US has taken Ozempic or another GLP-1 drug, KFF survey finds
CNN
About 1 in 8 adults in the United States has used a GLP-1 drug like Ozempic or Mounjaro at some point in their life, and half of them – about 6% of adults, or more than 15 million people – are currently using a prescription, according to new survey data from KFF.
About 1 in 8 adults in the United States has used a GLP-1 drug like Ozempic or Mounjaro at some point in their life, and half of them – about 6% of adults, or more than 15 million people – are currently using a prescription, according to new survey data from KFF. The US Food and Drug Administration has reported shortages of the GLP-1 medications Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro at various dosages over the past year as drugmakers have raced to keep up with skyrocketing demand. Last week, Novo Nordisk said that at least 25,000 people in the US are starting its drug Wegovy each week – five times more than were able to start the medicine each week in December. According to the new survey, most adults who have used these drugs have done so to manage chronic conditions such as diabetes or heart disease. More than 40% of respondents who have diabetes and about a quarter of those who have heart disease said they have used GLP-1 drugs. But about 2 in 5 adults used GLP-1 drugs solely to lose weight, the KFF poll found. Neither Ozempic nor Mounjaro is approved for weight loss specifically; the FDA greenlit them to treat type 2 diabetes in 2017 and 2022, respectively. But doctors commonly use them off-label for weight loss. Wegovy, which was approved in 2021 for obesity, contains the same key ingredient as Ozempic, called semaglutide, while Mounjaro uses a slightly different one, tirzepatide. Overall, adults ages 50 to 64 were most likely to have used GLP-1 drugs, but younger adults were more likely to use them solely for weight loss, according to the KFF survey.
