Q&A: Pharmacists’ Role in GLP-1 Diet, Exercise Counseling
Lydia Newsom, PharmD, discuses how pharmacists can support patients using GLP-1s.
Approximately 1 in 8 American adults have reported ever using a glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist.1 These medications, which were initially approved to treat type 2 diabetes, have become increasingly popular to treat overweight and obesity. As more patients begin taking GLP-1s, ensuring appropriate use and providing counseling on diet and lifestyle changes will be critical.
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Lydia Newsom, PharmD, clinical associate professor of pharmacy practice at Mercer University College of Pharmacy, said pharmacists are well positioned to help patients who are taking GLP-1s. Drug Topics® sat down with Newsom to discuss how pharmacists can support patients who have been prescribed a GLP-1 and how pharmacists can integrate lifestyle counseling, including diet and exercise, in discussions with patients using GLP-1s for weight loss.
READ MORE: Pharmacists Play Key Role in Supporting Patients Using GLP-1s
Drug Topics: How do you see the role of the pharmacist in supporting patients with obesity who have been prescribed a GLP-1?
Lydia Newsom, PharmD: I think there's a lot of roles for pharmacists in reducing barriers, [increasing] access, and ensuring appropriate medication use. The first thing I think about is helping our patients obtain the medication. If they do have insurance, trying to submit a prior authorization, trying to support insurance coverage of these medications that may be limited for patients with obesity. Insurance coverage is limited in many cases, so offering opportunities to get the medication directly from a manufacturer. There are programs to support that, or even a patient assistance program. So, obtaining the medication first, but even if the patient has been able to obtain this medication that can be costly without insurance, then a pharmacist needs to focus on appropriate medication use, because they're injectable.
We want to make sure our patients can inject with the pen or the vial, whatever formulation they're able to obtain. Appropriate education on injection technique and ensuring our patients have not only an understanding of how to use the pen, but how to store it. We want to make sure they're putting it in the refrigerator or leaving it out at room temperature for an appropriate duration to really maximize the product and the safety of that medicine. Other things I think about, making sure that the patient understands that the titration, how we're going to have an opportunity to increase the dose, how their physician or healthcare provider might increase the dose, understanding the safe dosage of these medications and titration. Then I think, always making sure that the patient has an appropriate kind of understanding of how these medications should be used. They're one tool in your arsenal, but other tools are diet and lifestyle changes and physical activity, so giving patients an appropriate understanding of expectations from the drug, but also to know what other tools they should be using to really optimize the weight loss that they're seeing.
Drug Topics: How can pharmacists integrate lifestyle counseling, including diet and exercise, into their discussions with patients using GLP-1s for weight loss?
Newsom: I think that's an important component, and I think a lot of pharmacists are providing that counseling. I always start with discussing this medication as a tool. This medication as a tool has great data to promote weight loss and obesity and with some other disease states, but the other tools in your arsenal are diet. So, giving the patient some counseling about diet, if you have time discussing things like the plate method or other specific diets that are appropriate for their specific disease states, that'll be very patient specific.
The other tool in your arsenal, or another tool, would be physical activity. Encouraging the patient to support and to choose some specific exercises or physical activity that work for their lifestyle is really important. Another thing that we often think about is some sort of behavioral support or coaching. If the patient has access to a program or even some sort of coach, a person in their life trying to make sure that they're thinking about their behavior choices to support optimal medication use, and using all those tools in their arsenal.
READ MORE: Obesity Management Resource Center
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