At Chicago's Endocrine Society annual meeting in 2026, researchers presented a counterintuitive finding: most people don't simply quit their GLP-1 medications and move on. Instead, they play a complex game of stopping and restarting—one that reshapes how doctors and health systems should think about supporting patients on these increasingly popular drugs.
The study, led by Sainikhil Sontha, a research associate at Boston University School of Public Health, analyzed insurance claims from more than 60,000 Americans with type 2 diabetes who had started liraglutide, semaglutide, or tirzepatide between January 2019 and June 2025. The researchers were asking two straightforward but underexplored questions: How many people actually stop taking these medications? And how many come back?
What they found was surprising in two ways. Yes, discontinuation rates were higher than many assumed—about 4 in 10 patients stopped their GLP-1 medication within the first year, climbing to nearly 6 in 10 by the end of two years. But the more encouraging discovery came next: more than half of those who stopped restarted therapy within a year, with 41.5% doing so. Nearly two-thirds restarted within two years. "This suggests that for many patients, these medications aren't being abandoned permanently," Sontha explained. "Use is more start and stop than most people assumed."
The research also revealed who struggles most with consistency. Patients on Medicaid or Medicare were more likely to discontinue, as were Black patients and those experiencing nausea or other stomach-related side effects—37 percent of whom stopped taking their medications. Interestingly, the type of medication mattered too. Those taking tirzepatide, a newer option, were 41 percent less likely to discontinue than those on older medications like liraglutide. Semaglutide users showed a 28 percent lower discontinuation rate compared to older drugs. And having an endocrinologist prescribe the initial medication reduced discontinuation rates by 10 percent, highlighting the value of specialist care.
Why does this matter? Because consistency is what makes these drugs work. GLP-1 medications offer genuine protective effects against heart attacks, kidney disease progression, and other serious complications of diabetes—but only when people actually take them. Early discontinuation means missing opportunities to prevent life-altering health events.
The findings have immediate practical implications. Doctors, insurers, and policymakers now have a clearer picture of which patients need additional support: those on government insurance programs, those experiencing side effects, and patients in underserved communities. It also suggests that side effect management deserves more attention early on, and that ensuring access to specialist prescribing could improve persistence.
Rather than viewing GLP-1 use as a simple binary—taking the medication or not—this research reveals a more fluid reality. Many patients aren't abandoning these drugs; they're cycling through periods of use and non-use. Understanding this pattern opens new possibilities for intervention: better symptom management, more accessible check-ins, and targeted support for the populations most likely to stop. The question moving forward isn't just whether patients will take their medications, but how health systems can help them stick with them when it matters most.