STAT+: Tapping the potential of GLP-1 drugs requires integrated care and overcoming inequities, executives say
At STAT's Breakthrough Summit East, the CEOs of Ro and Included Health said the the U.S. health care system poses obstacles to maximizing the potential of GLP-1 drugs.
The GLP-1 class of drugs used to treat diabetes and obesity may have the potential to benefit huge swaths of the public, but ongoing employer concerns over cost and a lack of patient adherence remain stubborn obstacles to wider adoption, a pair of health executives explained Thursday.
The medicines have proven wildly popular and, in turn, have generated huge sales, long stretches of shortages, and unchecked excitement among investors. And reminiscent of a modern-day gold rush, there is now a headlong race among a growing number of pharmaceutical companies to determine how many other maladies the drugs may be capable of treating.
But even as the manufacturers — Novo Nordisk and Eli Lilly — begin to lower prices for their GLP-1 medicines, the vagaries of the American health care system continue to pose an obstacle for recognizing the treatment possibilities, according to Zach Reitano, chief executive officer at Ro, a major telehealth platform that recently struck a deal with Lilly for its obesity medication Zepbound.
