Millions of Americans are not taking their GLP-1 drugs as prescribed
But, amid the boom, the latest data suggests millions of Americans have turned to unapproved versions and are using the potent drugs in ways doctors never intended, raising questions about what that real-world use means for safety and efficacy.
Key points
- Based on responses from over 8,000 US adults, the researchers estimate that about one in 10 US adults (9.8 percent) used a glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist, aka GLP-1 medication, in 2025.
- In a study published this week, researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention broke down survey data of GLP-1 use collected between July and August of 2025.
- Fifty-eight percent of adults 14–39 years old who modified their use cited cost as a barrier, compared with just 20 percent of adults 65 or older who said the same.
Among GLP-1 users, nearly half (44 percent) reported using their GLP-1 in a way that was different from how it was prescribed.
Additional details
- Users skipped doses, delayed getting refills, and used smaller doses than prescribed, among other changes.
- Cost and access barriers were most pronounced among younger GLP-1 users.
- More than half of the people modifying how they used the drug said the changes were because of cost or availability reasons.
- The study was published in the CDC's Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.
How this summary was made: extractive summary — built from the sources' own reporting. It is drawn only from the reporting of the sources listed below — read the originals for full detail. How we summarize →
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