Abstract P514: Evaluating the Concordance Between Trends in Prescription Volume and Online Interest for the Weight Loss Formulation of Semaglutide

Abstract

Introduction: Weight loss dosing of semaglutide (Wegovy™) is a preferred anti-obesity medication due to its efficacy, safety, and potential cardioprotective benefits. However, soon after FDA approval, supply shortages restricted availability and forced the manufacturer to suspend new initiations, despite large interest. We characterized trends in prescription volume of this drug since approval compared to other obesity medications and correlated it to online search interest. Methods: We derived monthly prescription dispensing and revenue data for all anti-obesity prescription medications from IQVIA’s National Prescription Audit. This audit captures 93% of outpatient prescription dispensing in the U.S. and projects to population-level data. We also retrieved online search data from Google Trends for Health for a variety of terms relevant to obesity treatment and drug generic/brand names. We analyzed data from May 2016 - April 2022 for visual and quantitative trends and assessed correlation between online searches and prescription volume with Spearman's correlation for non-parametric variables. Results: Prescriptions for Wegovy™ increased rapidly after entering the market in June 2021. It became the second most prescribed weight loss medication within 4 months, below phentermine and ahead of the weight loss dosing of liraglutide (Saxenda™). By December 2021, Wegovy™ comprised 10.7% of weight loss prescriptions. However, in subsequent months, prescriptions plateaued at ≈100,000/month (≈11% market share), coinciding with manufacturer reports of supply shortages. Cardiologists accounted for 0.7% of Wegovy™ use across the study. While the compounded monthly growth rate for prescriptions in the first 5 full months of drug availability was 34%, this slowed to 3% in the final 5 months of the study. Despite slowed growth, Wegovy™ comprised 59% of monthly pharmacy revenue for prescription weight loss drugs ($163 million) by April 2022. An abrupt spike in online searches for “Wegovy,” “semaglutide,” and “weight loss drug” coincided with FDA approval in June 2021, with “Wegovy” searches peaking at 195 queries per 10 million searches before falling to 85 by Sept. 2021. Following this initial peak and fall, Google searches for “Wegovy” rose exponentially, with a monthly increase of 20% in the final 5 months of the study. We observed a weaker correlation between online searches and prescriptions for Wegovy™ (Spearman’s correlation coefficient 0.65) compared with other cardiometabolic drugs which also had growing prescription volumes (0.79-0.99). Conclusions: As growth in Wegovy™ prescriptions decelerated, online searches continued to grow exponentially, even in the absence of manufacturer marketing. This contrast suggests that interest among clinicians and patients is likely outstripping drug availability, hampering the impending paradigm shift in treatment of obesity.