How Fast Did Tirzepatide Become Popular After FDA Approval?
Tirzepatide rapidly captured significant market share for both diabetes and weight management within 18 months of approval.
Quick Facts
What This Study Found
Tirzepatide reached 12.3% of diabetes medication dispensations and 40.6% of weight-loss medication dispensations within about 18 months of market entry.
Key Numbers
- Tirzepatide reached 12.3% of all diabetes drug prescriptions by December 2023
- Among weight-loss drugs, tirzepatide went from 0% to 40.6% of prescriptions in 18 months
- Semaglutide 2.4 mg (Wegovy) grew from 0% to 32.2% in the same period
- GLP-1 RAs overall grew from 19.5% to 28.5% of diabetes drug prescriptions
- SGLT2 inhibitors grew from 14.5% to 24.4%
How They Did This
Population-based cohort study analyzing commercial insurance claims data from a large U.S. database covering January 2021 to December 2023.
Why This Research Matters
Understanding prescribing trends helps gauge real-world adoption of new therapies and reveals how the treatment landscape for diabetes and obesity is shifting toward incretin-based medications.
The Bigger Picture
The rapid uptake of tirzepatide and other incretin therapies signals a paradigm shift in how diabetes and obesity are treated, moving away from older drug classes toward peptide-based dual-receptor agonists.
What This Study Doesn't Tell Us
Based on commercial insurance claims only, excluding uninsured and government-insured populations. Cannot assess clinical outcomes or reasons for prescribing choices.
Questions This Raises
- ?Will tirzepatide adoption continue to accelerate or plateau?
- ?How does access differ for uninsured or publicly insured patients?
- ?What clinical outcomes result from this prescribing shift?
Trust & Context
- Key Stat:
- 40.6% Share of weight-loss medication dispensations captured by tirzepatide by December 2023
- Evidence Grade:
- Large population-based observational study using insurance claims. Strong for trend analysis but cannot establish causation or clinical outcomes.
- Study Age:
- Published in 2025 using data through December 2023.
- Original Title:
- Trends in Utilization of Glucose- and Weight-Lowering Medications After Tirzepatide Approval in the United States : A Population-Based Cohort Study.
- Published In:
- Annals of internal medicine, 178(5), 620-633 (2025)
- Authors:
- Ostrominski, John W(5), Ortega-Montiel, Janinne(2), Tesfaye, Helen(3), Alix, Caroline, DiCesare, Elyse, Cromer, Sara J, Wexler, Deborah J, Paik, Julie M, Patorno, Elisabetta
- Database ID:
- RPEP-12888
Evidence Hierarchy
Looks back at existing records to find patterns.
What do these levels mean? →Frequently Asked Questions
How quickly did tirzepatide become popular?
Within about 18 months of approval, tirzepatide reached 12.3% of diabetes drug dispensations and 40.6% of weight-loss drug dispensations in the U.S.
Did older diabetes medications decline?
Yes, dispensations of metformin and other traditional glucose-lowering medications declined as tirzepatide and GLP-1 receptor agonists gained share.
Read More on RethinkPeptides
Cite This Study
https://rethinkpeptides.com/research/RPEP-12888APA
Ostrominski, John W; Ortega-Montiel, Janinne; Tesfaye, Helen; Alix, Caroline; DiCesare, Elyse; Cromer, Sara J; Wexler, Deborah J; Paik, Julie M; Patorno, Elisabetta. (2025). Trends in Utilization of Glucose- and Weight-Lowering Medications After Tirzepatide Approval in the United States : A Population-Based Cohort Study.. Annals of internal medicine, 178(5), 620-633. https://doi.org/10.7326/ANNALS-24-02870
MLA
Ostrominski, John W, et al. "Trends in Utilization of Glucose- and Weight-Lowering Medications After Tirzepatide Approval in the United States : A Population-Based Cohort Study.." Annals of internal medicine, 2025. https://doi.org/10.7326/ANNALS-24-02870
RethinkPeptides
RethinkPeptides Research Database. "Trends in Utilization of Glucose- and Weight-Lowering Medica..." RPEP-12888. Retrieved from https://rethinkpeptides.com/research/ostrominski-2025-trends-in-utilization-of
Access the Original Study
Study data sourced from PubMed, a service of the U.S. National Library of Medicine, National Institutes of Health.
This study breakdown was produced by the RethinkPeptides research team. We analyze and report published research findings without making health recommendations. All interpretations are based solely on the published abstract and study data.