Perceptions and Attitudes Toward Oral Semaglutide Among Japanese Physicians and Individuals with Type 2 Diabetes: A Web-Based Survey.

INTRODUCTION: The oral formulation of the glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonist semaglutide has dosing requirements that could impact adherence. We compared perceptions of physicians and individuals with type 2 diabetes (T2D) in Japan, before and after initiating oral semaglutide, with respect to adherence to dosing requirements. METHODS: In this observational study, online questionnaires were completed by treating physicians and adults with T2D who had received either oral semaglutide or other oral antidiabetic medications for ≥ 6 months. Physicians reported the expected adherence of their patients to oral semaglutide and expected patient difficulties around the dosing requirements prior to (baseline) and after (time of survey) initiating oral semaglutide. Patient-reported adherence and difficulties experienced with the dosing requirements were assessed after oral semaglutide was initiated. RESULTS: Overall, 330 physicians and 412 individuals with T2D responded. There was a statistically significant difference (P < 0.001) between baseline and time of survey in the distribution of physicians who expected that ≥ 80% or < 80% of their patients would adhere to oral semaglutide, with 17.2% of physicians expecting ≥ 80% of their patients to be adherent before treatment initiation versus 44.6% reporting ≥ 80% of their patients to be adherent after treatment initiation. There was also a statistically significant difference (P < 0.001) in the distribution of expected versus reported adherence among individuals who received oral semaglutide. After semaglutide initiation, 95.2% of patients reported missing ≤ 1 dose/week. Before prescribing oral semaglutide, 186 (56.4%) physicians were resistant to it, due to the dosing requirements. After prescribing oral semaglutide, 146 (44.2%) reported their resistance had decreased, whereas only 28 (8.5%) reported increased resistance. CONCLUSIONS: We identified an improvement in physician perceptions of oral semaglutide adherence due to dosing requirements following semaglutide initiation. Our findings suggest that individuals with T2D in Japan are capable of adhering to the dosing requirements of oral semaglutide.