Peptide News Digest

#Epic-Cosmos

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Research · View digest

Wegovy Pill Starts Briefly Passed Injectable Semaglutide Within Three Months of Approval, Penn Analysis of 47.9 Million U.S. Health Records Finds

University of Pennsylvania researchers reported in JAMA Network Open on October 7, 2026 that among 47.9 million adults eligible for obesity medicines in Epic Cosmos, a database of health records from more than 2,000 U.S. hospitals, 148,792 started oral semaglutide between December 22, 2025, when the FDA approved the pill for obesity, and March 15, 2026: 87.6% on the Wegovy pill and 12.4% on Rybelsus. Weekly starts peaked at 4.56 per 10,000 eligible adults in early March, briefly exceeding starts of injectable semaglutide, and 53.0% of people starting the pill had never used a GLP-1 drug before. Compared with people starting injections, pill users were older on average, more often women (72.7%), and had a lower average BMI (36.6); the study counted prescription orders, which may not all have been filled.

Research · View digest

JAMA Pediatrics Publishes UT Southwestern Retrospective Cohort Study Monday July 20, 2026 Analyzing 204,000+ US Adolescents and Young Adults Ages 13-25 Treated for Obesity Between May 2022 and January 2026 in the Epic Cosmos Electronic Health Record Database: GLP-1 Receptor Agonist Monotherapy Share Rose From 88.2% (May-November 2022) to 96.1% (June 2025-January 2026), Metabolic and Bariatric Surgery (MBS) Share Fell From 11.6% to 3.7% Over the Same Window, and Combined GLP-1 + MBS Use Remained Rare at Approximately 0.2%; Severe Obesity Currently Affects Approximately 9% of Ages 12-18 in the US

JAMA Pediatrics published a UT Southwestern Medical Center retrospective cohort study Monday July 20, 2026 examining GLP-1 receptor agonist and metabolic and bariatric surgery (MBS) utilization patterns among 204,000+ US adolescents and young adults ages 13-25 treated for obesity between May 2022 and January 2026 in the Epic Cosmos electronic health record database. Key findings: the share of patients using only GLP-1 drugs rose from 88.2% (May-November 2022) to 96.1% (June 2025-January 2026); the share of patients undergoing MBS fell from 11.6% to 3.7% over the same window; combined GLP-1 + MBS use remained rare at approximately 0.2%. The study documents a substitution effect from surgical obesity treatment toward pharmacologic obesity treatment in the youth population over 44 months of coverage. Context: severe obesity currently affects approximately 9% of US adolescents ages 12-18. The findings raise questions about long-term efficacy, weight-regain risk after GLP-1 discontinuation in adolescents, and the appropriate role of MBS in adolescents whose obesity is unresponsive to GLP-1 pharmacotherapy. The study covers the pediatric analog of the earlier adult utilization-shift patterns already documented in the Kaiser Permanente and Optum electronic health record data.