Persistence of newer anti-obesity medications in a real-world setting

Abstract Aims Evaluate real-world data on persistence with anti-obesity medications (AOMs) and explore associated patient factors. Methods Truven Health MarketScan® data were analyzed to evaluate utilization of AOMs approved for long-term use between 4/2015 and 3/2016. Kaplan-Meier survival analyses were used to evaluate treatment persistence. A multivariate analysis was performed to identify associations between persistence and relevant factors. Results In total, 26,522 adult patients were identified as newly prescribed naltrexone/bupropion (44.0%, mean age 47.1, 80.5% female), lorcaserin (24.8%, 48.5, 79.3%), phentermine/topiramate extended release (15.8%, 46.7, 82.2%) or liraglutide 3.0 mg (15.4%, 46.9, 72.4%). At 6 months, 41.8% of patients were still on liraglutide 3.0 mg, compared to 15.9% lorcaserin (p  Conclusions In a real-world setting, patients on liraglutide 3.0 mg had the highest persistence rate of the four AOMs studied.