{"id":842327,"date":"2025-04-20T16:12:30","date_gmt":"2025-04-20T21:12:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/20\/heres-how-much-ozempic-and-similar-drugs-have-soared-in-popularity-since-2018\/"},"modified":"2025-04-20T16:12:30","modified_gmt":"2025-04-20T21:12:30","slug":"heres-how-much-ozempic-and-similar-drugs-have-soared-in-popularity-since-2018","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/20\/heres-how-much-ozempic-and-similar-drugs-have-soared-in-popularity-since-2018\/","title":{"rendered":"Here’s how much Ozempic and similar drugs have soared in popularity since 2018"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\"In<\/picture><\/div>\n

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In this photo illustration, boxes of the diabetes drug Ozempic rest on a pharmacy counter on April 17, 2023 in Los Angeles, California.<\/figcaption>
Image: Mario Tama \/ Staff (Getty Images)<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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In This Story<\/h6>\n<\/section>\n

The use of GLP-1 meds \u2014 made popular by Ozempic (NVO+2.41%<\/span><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>) \u2014 among U.S. adults without diabetes more than tripled between 2018 and 2022, with annual spending surging from $1.6 billion to $5.8 billion.<\/p>\n

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The findings were reported by MedPageToday<\/a><\/span> on Tuesday, citing a new study published in the Annals of Internal Medicine<\/em><\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

Researchers analyzed data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention\u2019s (CDC) National Health Interview Survey (NHIS), using an unweighted sample of 90,000 adults. They found that the percentage of U.S. adults without diabetes filling at least one GLP-1 prescription increased from 0.1% in 2018 to 0.4% in 2022 \u2014 representing approximately 854,728 adults. By comparison, about 5.1 million adults with type 2 diabetes filled a prescription for the drugs that same year, according to a separate study<\/a><\/span>.<\/p>\n

The total number of people taking GLP-1 treatments today could also be much higher. In a\u00a0May 2024 survey<\/a><\/span> of 1,479 U.S. adults, about 12% said they\u2019d taken a GLP-1 agonist, and almost one third said they\u2019d heard \u201ca lot\u201d about these treatments, according to the health policy non-profit KFF.<\/p>\n

GLP-1s are a class of drugs that have been used for decades to treat diabetes. They mimic a hormone that helps regulate blood sugar and can also suppress appetite. But a newer generation of these drugs \u2014 such as Novo Nordisk\u2019s Ozempic and Eli Lilly\u2019s (LLY+3.00%<\/span><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/span>) Mounjaro \u2014 has fueled a surge in demand. Unlike older versions, which required daily doses, these newer medications are injected just once a week. Demand skyrocketed even further after the drugs were approved for weight loss. Novo Nordisk\u2019s Wegovy received approval to treat obesity in 2021, followed by Eli Lilly\u2019s Zepbound in 2023.<\/p>\n

By 2022, 65% of GLP-1 users without diabetes were on semaglutide \u2014 the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy. Most GLP-1 users without diabetes were female (64%) and white (73%), with an average body mass index (BMI) of 35.7, classifying them as obese.<\/p>\n

The blockbuster success of these drugs has transformed Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly into two of the world\u2019s most valuable pharmaceutical companies. Novo Nordisk\u2019s total revenue rose 26% in 2024 to $40.5 billion, while Eli Lilly saw a 32% jump, reaching $45 billion. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Bruce Gil
Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In this photo illustration, boxes of the diabetes drug Ozempic rest on a pharmacy counter on April 17, 2023 in Los Angeles, California. Image: Mario Tama \/ Staff (Getty Images) In This Story The use of GLP-1 meds \u2014 made popular by Ozempic ( NVO +2.41% ) \u2014 among U.S. adults without diabetes more than<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":842328,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[211,47817],"tags":[5521,119136],"class_list":{"0":"post-842327","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-heres","8":"category-ozempic","9":"tag-heres","10":"tag-ozempic"},"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842327","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=842327"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/842327\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/842328"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=842327"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=842327"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newsycanuse.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=842327"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}