Drugs like Ozempic are now more popular than insulin for treating diabetes
It took GLP-1 medications like Ozempic just seven years to surpass insulin as the the second most common treatment for type 2 diabetes, according to a new report by the market research and analytics firm Trilliant Health.
GLP-1 drugs rose from the eighth most common drug regimen for type 2 diabetes in 2018, a year after Ozempic launched in the U.S., to the second most common in 2023, according to Trilliant’s 2024 Trends Shaping the Health Economy Report. Insulin fell to third place last year.
Metformin, which regulates blood sugar levels by reducing how much glucose is released from the liver and helping the body to absorb more glucose from the bloodstream, remained on top over 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 slimming side effects.
In 2023, Ozempic was Novo Nordisk’s best-selling drug, with sales reaching 31 billion Danish kroner ($14 billion).
Soaring demand for these treatments have turned Novo Nordisk (NVO) and its rival Eli Lilly (LLY), the maker of Mounjaro, into the most valuable pharma companies in the world. Morgan Stanley (MS) analysts anticipate the global market for these drugs, known as GLP-1/GIP treatments, will reach $105 billion by 2030.
And their influence is still growing.
According to Trilliant’s report, GLP-1s could boost or bring down demand for other medical treatments like gastrointestinal (GI) medications and bariatric surgeries. In the year after patients start a GLP-1 treatment, the proportion of patients with a GI-related diagnosis increased by one percentage point to 11.3% and the proportion of patients taking a GI-related medication increased by 3.7 percentage points to 33%, according to Trilliant Health
Trilliant also projected that if GLP-1 drugs replaced just 20% of bariatric surgeries providers could stand to lose up to $533.4 million in revenue.
“As new therapies become available and emerging evidence is incorporated into clinical guidelines, it is likely that some highmargin surgical procedures will be replaced by less invasive interventions, or there will be a decline in downstream demand,” the report said.
