GLP-1 RAs Usage: Trends In Adverse Events

Real-World Adverse-Event Profile Of Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists In Overweight & Obese U.S. Adults 

This poster was originally presented at ISPOR 2025 on May 15, in Montreal, QC, Canada. 

Authors: Rohan Vashi, PharmD, MS; Dave Iwanyckyj, BA; Pablo Racana, BS; Melanie Jardim, PhD 

Affiliations: Amplity, Inc., Langhorne, PA, USA 

Introduction 

This research examined the real-world adverse event (AE) profile of Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists (GLP-1 RAs) in overweight and obese U.S. adults, providing valuable insights into their performance outside clinical trials for healthcare providers and patients.  

Methods  

• This retrospective observational study utilized AnswerY™, Amplity’s real-world database and platform built from HIPAA-compliant transcriptions of U.S. prescriber–patient visits.  

• Using AI and natural language processing (NLP), it extracts, visualizes, and summarizes treatment discussions and clinical decisions. Covering inpatient and outpatient care across 70+ specialties since 2017, AnswerY was known as Amplity Insights™ prior to January 2025. 

• NLP was used to search and analyze the AnswerY database and platform for records from 12,540 providers for patients who had received a GLP-1 RA as a class or specific agent from January 1, 2017, to October 30, 2024. 

• AEs were identified from a predefined list compiled from product websites or found in the AnswerY database and described as frequencies and percentages.  

Results 

• Patients utilizing GLP-1 RAs mostly have diabetes, and 43.6% are overweight or obese. 

Table 1 shows common AEs reported among all patients utilizing GLP-1 RAs: 

• 10.8% of all patients utilizing a GLP-1 RA reported a common AE, and out of the patients reporting a common AE, 41.4% (5,556 out of 13,433) reported a treatment disruption. 

• Among all patients reporting AEs, GI issues were the most frequently reported common AEs (7.7%), with 4.4% related to treatment and 2.2% leading to treatment disruption. 

Figure 1 shows common AEs reported among all patients utilizing GLP-1 RAs stratified by BMI: 

• Common AEs were reported by 8.9-13.9% of patients utilizing GLP-1 RAs, with rates generally decreasing as BMI increases.  

• GI issues were the most frequently reported common AEs across all BMI subgroups, with other common AEs being minimally reported.  

• Overall, rates of GI issues decreased as BMI increased and were lower among patients with or without diabetes compared with the BMI groups (7.7%/7.4%).  

Conclusion  

• In this real-world U.S. cohort, GLP-1 RA–containing medications are used heavily in overweight and obese populations. However, within the same population, usage of GLP-1 RAs are overwhelmingly used in patients with diabetes. 

• Common and serious AEs were reported in 10.8% and 3.9% of patients utilizing a GLP-1 RA, in which GI issues, hypoglycemia, and acute pancreatitis were observed.  

• Rates of GI issues decreased as BMI increased. As GI issues were reported as disrupting treatment for 2.2% of patients, this suggests that patients with greater BMI may be able to utilize GLP-1 RAs for a longer period.  

• Rates of serious AEs appeared to increase with the presence of diabetes and increased BMI, suggesting an increased need for patient monitoring in these populations.  

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