GLP-1s like Ozempic are now more popular than insulin for treating diabetes

It took just seven years for GLP-1 drugs like Ozempic to overtake insulin as the second most common treatment for type 2 diabetes, according to a new report from the market research and analytics company Trilliant Health.

GLP-1 drugs went from the eighth most common drug regimen for type 2 diabetes in 2018, a year after Ozempic launched in the United States, to the second most common in 2023, according to Trilliant’s 2024 report on trends shaping the health economy. Insulin fell to third place last year.

Metformin, which regulates blood sugar levels by reducing the amount of glucose released by the liver and helping the body absorb more glucose into the blood., has remained in the lead for the past six years as the leading drug for type 2 diabetes.

GLP-1 drugs, which work by mimicking hormones that regulate blood sugar and suppress appetite, have also recently become highly sought after for their weight-loss side effects.

In 2023, Ozempic was Novo Nordisk’s best-selling drug, with sales reaching 31 billion Danish kroner ($14 billion).

Growing demand for these treatments has made Novo Nordisk (NVO) and rival Eli Lilly (LLY), the maker of Mounjaro, the most valuable pharmaceutical companies in the world. Analysts at Morgan Stanley (MS) predict that the global market for these drugs, called GLP-1/GIP treatments, will reach $105 billion by 2030.

And their influence continues to grow.

According to the Trilliant report, GLP-1 could increase or decrease demand for other medical treatments like gastrointestinal (GI) medications and bariatric surgeries. In the year following initiation of GLP-1 therapy, the proportion of patients with a diagnosis related to the gastrointestinal tract increased by one percentage point to 11.3% and the proportion of patients taking a GI-related medication increased 3.7 percentage points to 33%, according to Trilliant Health

Trilliant also projected that if GLP-1 drugs replaced just 20% of bariatric surgery providers, they could lose up to $533.4 million in revenue.

“As new therapies become available and new evidence is incorporated into clinical guidelines, it is likely that some high-margin surgical procedures will be replaced by less invasive interventions, or that there will be a decline in demand downstream,” the report states.

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