Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2025 Jun 24;333(24):2203-2206.
doi: 10.1001/jama.2025.4735.

Uptake of and Disparities in Semaglutide and Tirzepatide Prescribing for Obesity in the US

Affiliations

Uptake of and Disparities in Semaglutide and Tirzepatide Prescribing for Obesity in the US

Chungsoo Kim et al. JAMA. .
No abstract available

Plain language summary

This study uses data from the US nationwide electronic health record–based Epic Cosmos Dataset to examine prescriptions for semaglutide and tirzepatide, focusing on differences across race, ethnicity, social vulnerability, and urbanicity and assess the need for strategies to promote equitable access to these therapies.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Conflict of Interest Disclosures: Dr Ross reported receiving grants from the US Food and Drug Administration, Johnson & Johnson, Medical Devices Innovation Consortium, the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, National Institutes of Health (NIH)/National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, and Arnold Ventures outside the submitted work and serving an expert witness in a suit against Biogen Inc (settled September 2022). Dr Jastreboff reported receiving trial funding to her institution from Amgen, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Rhythm Pharmaceuticals and receiving personal fees for serving on scientific advisory boards from Amgen, AstraZeneca, Biohaven, Boehringer Ingelheim, Eli Lilly, Intellihealth, Novo Nordisk, Pfizer, Regeneron, Roche, Scholar Rock, Structure Therapeutics, Syntis Bio, Terns, WeightWatchers, and Zealand outside the submitted work. Dr Meeker reported receiving a grant (UL1TR001863) from the National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences during the conduct of the study. Dr Krumholz reported receiving options for Element Science and Identifeye for advisory roles; receiving payments from F-Prime for advisory roles; that he is a cofounder of, and held equity in, Hugo Health; that he is a cofounder of, and holds equity in, Refactor Health and ENSIGHT-AI; and that he is associated with research contracts through Yale University from Janssen, Kenvue, Novartis, and Pfizer. Dr Lu reported receiving support from the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health (awards R01HL69954 and R01HL169171), the Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (award HM-2022C2-28354), Sentara Research Foundation, and Novartis through Yale University outside the submitted work. No other disclosures were reported.

References

    1. Wilding JPH, Batterham RL, Calanna S, et al. ; STEP 1 Study Group . Once-weekly semaglutide in adults with overweight or obesity. N Engl J Med. 2021;384(11):989-1002. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2032183 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Jastreboff AM, Aronne LJ, Ahmad NN, et al. ; SURMOUNT-1 Investigators . Tirzepatide once weekly for the treatment of obesity. N Engl J Med. 2022;387(3):205-216. doi: 10.1056/NEJMoa2206038 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Ward ZJ, Bleich SN, Cradock AL, et al. Projected US state-level prevalence of adult obesity and severe obesity. N Engl J Med. 2019;381(25):2440-2450. doi: 10.1056/NEJMsa1909301 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Lu Y, Liu Y, Krumholz HM. Racial and ethnic disparities in financial barriers among overweight and obese adults eligible for semaglutide in the United States. J Am Heart Assoc. 2022;11(19):e025545. doi: 10.1161/JAHA.121.025545 - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wright DR, Guo J, Hernandez I. A prescription for achieving equitable access to antiobesity medications. JAMA Health Forum. 2023;4(4):e230493-e230493. doi: 10.1001/jamahealthforum.2023.0493 - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources