People prescribed GLP-1 medications are more likely to start and stop treatment than commonly assumed, according to a study being presented at ENDO 2026, the Endocrine Society's annual meeting in Chicago, Ill., on June 14. The research team conducted a retrospective cohort study using Komodo Health U.S. claims data from January 2019 to June 2025. The analysis included adults aged 18 to 64 years with a body mass index of at least 25 kg/m² and type 2 diabetes who began treatment with liraglutide, semaglutide, or tirzepatide and had more than six months of follow-up.
Discontinuation was defined as having more than a 60-day gap in filling GLP-1 prescriptions. Reinitiation was recorded when patients obtained a new prescription after discontinuing the medication.
"Using insurance records from more than 60,000 Americans with type 2 diabetes, we found that about 4 in 10 patients stopped their GLP-1 medication within the first year, and nearly 6 in 10 had stopped by the end of two years," Sontha said.
The study also found that "more than half of those who stopped restarted therapy within a year (41.5%), and nearly two-thirds did so within two years (58%)," Sontha said. "This suggests that for many patients, these medications aren't being abandoned permanently; use is more start-and-stop than most people assumed."
Sontha and colleagues reported that those on Medicaid or Medicare, Black patients, and individuals experiencing nausea or other stomach-related side effects (37%) were more likely to discontinue GLP-1 medication within one year. Patients were ten percent less likely to stop if their initial prescription came from an endocrinologist. Those taking newer medications like tirzepatide were forty-one percent less likely to discontinue compared with users of older drugs such as liraglutide; semaglutide users were twenty-eight percent less likely to discontinue anti-obesity medication use compared with those taking older medications.
"This research matters because consistent use of these medications is what produces their protective effects," Sontha said. "Stopping early may mean missed opportunities to prevent heart attacks, kidney disease progression, and other complications." The researchers hope these findings will help providers, insurers, and policymakers identify which patient groups need additional support for continued use of GLP-1 therapies.
