The Skinny on Weight loss Drugs
This podcast was created in collaboration with the Pharmacy Podcast Network.
PurpleLab’s dataset from October 2022 – October 2023 shows that 2.8M people had been prescribed and dispensed a semaglutide drug.
PurpelLab’s database shows who really is getting access to the drugs by looking into:
- States with most prescriptions (and zoom in on a Zip-3 level)
- Men vs. Women prescription and dispense rates
- Socioeconomics data of patients
- Race & Ethnicity
In terms of adolescents, issues regarding lifestyle & dietary choices have not changed much through the years, but the data does show that the underlying treatments available for underage patients have changed (mainly given to the FDA’s approval of Wegovy being used on these patients).
Although HIPAA doesn’t allow the collection of SDOH factors for underage patients (12-17), PurpleLab’s data shows almost an even split between Medicaid and commercial providers prescribing weight loss drugs. This demystifies the popular idea that these drugs are only accessible to higher-income patients.