Unless you've been living off the grid, you've probably heard about drugs like Ozempic, Mounjaro, and Wegovy, and perhaps even considered asking your doctor about them. They're all part of a class of drugs called GLP-1 receptor agonists, or just GLP-1s.
According to Indiana University Health, the drugs were originally approved to help lower blood sugar, but proved exceptionally effective to help patients lose weight without the potentially risky side effects associated with drugs like phentermine. Drugmakers raced to develop newer versions that would be marketed expressly for weight loss and the first such drug, Wegovy, received approval in 2021. Since then, more GLP-1s have been approved and researchers have found that the drugs may also be useful for the prevention and treatment of heart disease — something diabetes patients are twice as likely to develop compared to people without diabetes.
And the race to develop newer and better GLP-1 drugs hasn't slowed down. According to Reuters, an experimental GLP-1 pill from Eli Lilly, called orforglipron, delivered better results than an oral version of semaglutide (developed by Novo-Nordisk) for both weight loss and blood sugar control.
GLP-1s might also help reverse prediabetes. According to a study published in the journal Diabetology and Metabolic Syndrome, GLP-1s were associated with prediabetes reversal, prevention of new-onset diabetes, and lower blood sugar for 2,903 patients in 12 separate clinical trials.
Many insurance plans currently cover GLP-1s for the treatment of diabetes, but not for the treatment of obesity or prediabetes. But Medicare prescription drug plans and state Medicaid programs could opt into a proposed five-year experiment that would cover off-label use of GLP-1s for members.
