Adherence and treatment discontinuation of oral semaglutide and once‐weekly semaglutide injection at 12 month follow‐up: Japanese real‐world data

Abstract

AbstractAdherence and treatment continuation rates of the glucagon‐like peptide‐1 receptor agonist (GLP‐1RA) semaglutide for both oral (O‐SEMA) and subcutaneous injection (SEMA‐SC) remain unknown in real‐world clinical practice. This retrospective observational study compared the 12 month adherence and treatment discontinuation of O‐SEMA and once‐weekly SEMA‐SC in patients with type 2 diabetes using a real‐world claims database. SEMA‐SC initiators were 1:1 propensity score‐matched to O‐SEMA initiators. Non‐adherence was defined as <0.8 of the proportion of days covered. SEMA‐SC had a significantly higher odds ratio (OR) for non‐adherence than O‐SEMA (OR: 1.39). The hazard ratio for treatment discontinuation, using O‐SEMA as the reference, was 1.45 for SEMA‐SC, although the discontinuation rate of O‐SEMA was higher during the early stage. O‐SEMA initiators showed significantly higher adherence and greater persistence in therapy than SEMA‐SC initiators at 12 months, which could lead to earlier initiation of GLP‐1RA treatment.