Health economics, policy, and lawJan 7, 2025

How common and impactful support for off-label Ozempic use is

GLP-1 Therapies Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗OA ↗

Updated Jan 20, 2026

Abstract

A survey of 3,420 US adults found that 46.3% support off-label prescribing by physicians.

Public opinion on off-label prescribing is divided, with nearly half supporting physician discretion.
A significant 58% of respondents expressed concern about supply shortages of Ozempic due to off-label use.
Approximately 63% of participants were worried about the safety of Ozempic when prescribed off-label.
Highlighting safety concerns (but not supply issues) in discussions about off-label Ozempic use is linked to decreased support for such prescribing.
The findings indicate that while there is interest in obesity treatments like Ozempic, public sentiment may be influenced by concerns raised against them.

Simplified

Ozempic and related semaglutide drugs represent a popular new strategy to address obesity in the United States, yet uptake of these medications has sparked opposition highlighting concerns about off-label drug use policies, drug safety, supply shortages and cost. Public attitudes towards off-label prescribing by physicians broadly, and towards Ozempic in particular, in light of this opposition are unclear. To better understand public sentiment on this topic, we analysed data from a representative survey of 3,420 US adults conducted from 13 to 22 June 2023. Public attitudes towards off-label prescribing were split, with 46.3 percent supporting physician discretion to prescribe off-label. Importantly though, 58 percent of respondents were at least somewhat concerned about Ozempic supply shortages caused by off-label use and 63 percent were concerned about Ozempic safety in the context of off-label use. Further analysis from an embedded survey experiment shows that rhetoric highlighting safety (but not supply) concerns surrounding off-label Ozempic prescribing is associated with a significant drop in support for off-label use. These results suggest that the introduction of obesity drugs like Ozempic present a pharmaceutical industry-led path for combatting obesity, but rhetoric opposing these drugs could blunt public support and uptake.

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How common and impactful support for off-label Ozempic use is

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