The Fight to Make GLP-1s Cost-Effective as Demand Increases | ACC 2025

In this interview with Managed Healthcare Executive, John B. Buse, M.D., Ph.D., a professor at the University of North Carolina (UNC) School of Medicine and director of the UNC's Diabetes Care Center, discusses prevention and GLP-1s.

Buse said the Make America Healthy Again Agenda has much to recommend, and he acknowledged the importance of public health measures. But he said pharmaceuticals, and the GLP-1s in particular, need to play a role.

"The data suggest that a large segment of the population should be taking these medications," he said.

Buse said, though, that the cost of the GLP-1s must come down for them to be part of a broad, cost-effective prevention strategy.

"We need to make them affordable and a value proposition for payers, like the federal government," he said.

Buse pointed to research that has shown that a price of $150 per month would make the GLP-1s cost-effective as a prevention measure.

Questions remain, though, about how broadly GLP-1s should be prescribed and at what age, Buse said.

Pharmacists are at the "pointy end of the stick," working through some of the issues, he said, and tackling access and coverage problems.

"Our pharmacists at our clinics are really the experts on how to get these drugs covered for the patients who need them."