A new study was presented to this year's meeting of The European Association for the study of diabetes, revealing that despite the outstanding performance of the weight-loss drugs GLP-1RAs people are likely to discontinue the treatment within a year.
Researchers used date from Danish nationwide health registries to analyse the likelihood and reasons for discontinuing weight-loss drugs such as Ozempic among adults (18 years and older) from December 1st 2022 (the date such drugs launched in Denmark) to October 1st 2023.
The data shows that over half of the 77310 users would quit after one year of receiving the drug. The result shows that high cost of the drugs (at least 2000 euros per year) is one of the main contributors for the high attrition rate. The other major contributor is the adverse reactions such as nausea, vomiting and diarrhea after taking the drug.
The research has its own limitations though. Due to the fact that the national health registries do not include information like individual-level financial status, BMI and insurance policies, these confounding variables are not accounted for when analyzing the dataset.
Reference:
- https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/09/250913232157.htm