Here are eight things health system and hospital leaders should know about these medications:
1. What does “GLP-1” mean?
The acronym stands for glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist.
The gut hormone prompts insulin secretion, suppresses appetite and promotes a feeling of fullness. GLP-1 drugs mimic these physiological effects.
2. Which medications are approved?
As of May 2025, here is a list of brand name FDA-approved GLP-1 medications, along with route of administration and indications.
Bydureon (exenatide) — The FDA approved the active ingredient in 2005 and approved AstraZeneca’s Type 2 diabetes injectable formulation in 2017.
Byetta (exenatide) — Amylin Pharmaceuticals and Eli Lilly received FDA approval for the active ingredient in 2005, and in 2009 it earned approval for Type 2 diabetes.
Mounjaro (tirzepatide) — Eli Lilly’s injectable Type 2 diabetes drug was approved in 2022.
Ozempic (semaglutide) — The FDA approved Novo Nordisk’s injectable Type 2 diabetes medication in 2017. It is also indicated for cardiovascular disease and kidney disease.
Rybelsus (semaglutide) — The first oral GLP-1 Type 2 diabetes drug was approved in 2019 for Novo Nordisk.
Saxenda (liraglutide) — Novo Nordisk’s chronic weight management injectable drug was approved in 2014.
Soliqua (lixisenatide and insulin glargine) — Approved in 2016, Sanofi’s injectable drug is indicated for Type 2 diabetes.
Trulicity (dulaglutide) — The FDA approved the active ingredient in 2014, and Eli Lilly’s Type 2 diabetes injectable medicine secured U.S. approval in 2020. It is also indicated for cardiovascular disease.
Victoza (liraglutide) — Novo Nordisk’s Type 2 diabetes therapy was approved in 2010, and a pediatric, injectable treatment for patients 10 or older was approved in 2019. It is also indicated for cardiovascular disease.
Wegovy (semaglutide) — The FDA approved the active ingredient in 2017, and in 2021 Novo Nordisk received an approval for the weight loss management drug. In March 2024, it was the first injectable GLP-1 approved to reduce the risk of cardiovascular death, heart attack and stroke in obese or overweight adults with cardiovascular disease.
Xultophy (liraglutide and insulin degludec) — Novo Nordisk’s Type 2 diabetes drug was approved in 2016.
Zepbound (tirzepatide) — The active ingredient was approved in 2022 and Eli Lilly’s weight loss injectable medication gained approval in 2023.
The eight most popular GLP-1s, in order, are Ozempic, Wegovy, Victoza, Rybelsus, Byetta, Bydureon, Trulicity and Saxenda, according to GoodRx.
Read more about the drugs’ efficacy here.
3. Why are these drugs popular?
Although some of these medications have been on the U.S. market for more than a decade, Ozempic and other GLP-1s gained traction in late 2022 as celebrities clamored for weight loss results and weight loss trends went viral on social media platforms.
As public awareness increased, so did prescription rates: Between 2020 and 2022, prescription volumes for GLP-1 medications increased 300%, according to an analysis from Trilliant.
In late 2022, supply of the drugs waned, and by early 2023, patients with Type 2 diabetes began rationing their medications. National shortages of Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro and Zepbound and Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Wegovy lasted years before resolving between late 2024 and early 2025.
The shortages allowed compounding pharmacies to step into the lucrative market, creating tension with the brand name manufacturers. After the FDA removed the medications from its drugs in shortage list, Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly sought to stamp out competition. Federal courts have so far ruled in favor of the pharmaceutical giants.
4. How is hospital care affected?
Hospitals are feeling the effects of GLP-1 uptake, and widespread weight loss could affect hospital strategy and operations downstream.
The medicines are leading to magnified weight loss programs, more transplants, a changing landscape in cardiology and a decrease in bariatric operations. As a result of widespread GLP-1 uptake, about 60% of profits across eight high-margin therapeutic areas might be at risk by 2029, according to global management consulting firm Kearney.
For example, between 2022 and 2023, GLP-1 drug prescriptions increased 132.6% while bariatric surgery rates fell 25.6%, one study found. Elective surgeries are a major source of revenue for hospitals, and this drop in bariatric operations led to the closure of Norman (Okla.) Regional Health System’s weight loss clinic and bariatrics program.
In ambulatory surgery centers, GLP-1s are projected to affect spine and orthopedic care, but the extent of their effects is unknown.
5. How much do the drugs cost, and how is the healthcare industry paying for them?
In 2024, U.S. pharmacies, clinics and hospitals spent $54 billion on semaglutide (Ozempic and Wegovy) and $31.7 billion on tirzepatide (Mounjaro and Zepbound). The third-most expensive and utilized drug, Humira, cost the industry $28 billion in 2024.
Each GLP-1 medication differs in list price, but monthly costs range from $500 to more than $1,300. After these drugs surged in popularity, several insurance plans culled GLP-1 coverage because of high costs. CMS does not cover weight loss drugs, and multiple health systems have limited or ended their coverage, including Rochester, Minn.-based Mayo Clinic and St. Louis-based Ascension.
“I think the biggest side effect of these drugs is sticker shock,” Eric Tichy, PharmD, former chair of the End Drug Shortages Alliance, told Becker’s in 2024. “For a lot of insurance plans, it’s become the No. 1 expense they have, especially if they cover weight loss — and everyone wants to use it.”
6. What are expectations for the market’s future?
As demand grows for these medications, drug manufacturers are testing new, stronger formulations.
The more recently approved GLP-1s are also glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide receptor agonists, such as Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro and Zepbound. Anita Courcoulas, MD, chief of Pittsburgh-based UPMC’s minimally invasive bariatric and general surgery program, told Becker’s she categorizes dual GLP-GIPs as the “second generation” of weight loss medications.
The “third generation” consists of experimental therapies that combine GLP-1 and GIP receptor agonists with glucagon and glucagon receptors, or GCGRs. Eli Lilly’s drug candidate retatrutide, a GLP-GIP-GCGR, reduced study participants’ weight by 24.2% after 48 weeks — the most significant weight loss results compared to other drugs on the market.
A plethora of potential indications are in the pipeline, including dementia, Parkinson’s disease, addiction, anxiety, depression, cancer and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease.
As far as sales are concerned, there are no signs of demand waning. Novo Nordisk is investing billions to buy more manufacturing sites to maintain enough supply, and DHL Supply Chain is expanding its network of warehouses because of this “upsurge in the pharmaceutical landscape.”
As more Americans shed pounds, the U.S. economy is expected to bulk up. By 2030, the global anti-obesity drug market could reach $100 billion — 16 times more than its current worth, according to Goldman Sachs analysts. They estimated that, with 30 million users, GLP-1s could add 0.4% to America’s gross domestic product.
7. What about the spillover effects and phenomena?
GLP-1s are not only improving health outcomes related to Type 2 diabetes, obesity and heart conditions; the popular medicines are also affecting food companies and long-standing weight loss businesses, and propelling countries’ economies.
Outside the healthcare industry, Walmart leaders have said shoppers are buying fewer calories, and junk food companies are switching tactics and promoting healthier options in the hope of retaining consumers. Experts have also predicted airlines could save on fuel in the near future because of lighter passengers.
The efficacy of medication-induced weight loss has posed challenges for legacy weight loss brands that focused on diet programs, meal plans, physical locations and subscription models. In April 2023, WeightWatchers bought a telehealth company that digitally prescribes weight loss drugs like Ozempic in a $132 million deal. The next month, diet and weight loss business Jenny Craig filed for bankruptcy.
GLP-1s are reshaping business and company value, with pharmaceutical companies climbing to new heights. About a century after Novo Nordisk opened shop, the drugmaker overtook luxury brand LVMH Moët Hennessy Louis Vuitton as Europe’s No. 1 largest company by market capitalization.
On the consumer side, some patients have reported rare and strange side effects, including “Ozempic face” — when a person’s face seems to deflate because of dramatic weight loss — malnutrition, less “food noise” and bizarre dreams. Muscle mass loss and subsequent pain have also been reported.
More patients are also increasingly asking their physicians for weight loss medications to prevent pregnancy complications. Little is known or confirmed about how GLP-1s affect fertility and pregnancy, but because obesity and being overweight are risk factors for pregnancy issues, some patients are seeking GLP-1s to avoid preeclampsia and preterm birth.
Patients have also attributed unplanned pregnancies to GLP-1s. The phenomenon, dubbed the “Ozempic baby boom,” could be because obesity medications affect the absorption of contraceptives or since weight loss can improve chances of pregnancy.
8. What is unknown?
As researchers explore interactions between GLP-1s and pregnancy, others are investigating the benefit-cost ratio and long-term safety profile of these drugs. If patients don’t continue taking the medications, they could regain weight.
Tim Schaffner, MD, bariatric surgeon at Bon Secours in Hampton Roads, Va., told Becker’s the “ultimate question” is whether patients taking GLP-1s keep the weight off. Alfred Trang, MD, medical director of general surgery for Livonia, Mich.-based Trinity Health Mid-Atlantic, agrees.
“I am concerned that the medication slows down gastric emptying, and so to what extent, how permanent it is, these things we don’t know yet,” Dr. Trang said. “The studies out there, the [longest] study was only about 68 weeks. What happens when the patients are taking them for five years? For 10 years? We just don’t know.”
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