Towards Healthcare values the global GLP-1 market rising to US$130 billion by 2035
Insurance plan coverage is increasing acceptance rates for GLP-1 drugs in Canada, where hospitals and clinics prescribe them for both type 2 diabetes and obesity.
That finding comes from market research firm Towards Healthcare, which in a report last updated on July 17 valued the global GLP-1 drugs market at US$58.05bn in 2026 and projected US$132.79bn by 2035, a compound annual growth rate of 9.63 percent.
The report attached no Canadian market size, coverage rate, or plan spending figure.
Type 2 diabetes was the largest indication at 58 percent of the market in 2025, the report said, with obesity and weight management projected as the fastest-growing indication through 2035.
Retail pharmacies accounted for 51 percent of distribution, and Towards Healthcare expects online pharmacies and direct-to-consumer channels to grow fastest.
North America accounted for 64 percent of the global market in 2025, with Asia Pacific identified as the fastest-growing region through 2035.
Injectables represented 83 percent of the market in 2025 which projects oral therapies as the fastest-growing route of administration.
Novo Nordisk’s Wegovy pill, launched in the US in January, passed 3m prescriptions in just over five months, the report said, with more than 80 percent of new prescriptions written for people new to GLP-1 therapy.
The US Food and Drug Administration approved Wegovy HD, a 7.2 mg semaglutide injection for chronic weight management, in March.
Towards Healthcare also cited Phase 2 results from Structure Therapeutics for oral aleniglipron, showing 16.3 percent placebo-adjusted mean weight loss at 44 weeks on the 180 mg dose, with Phase 3 initiation targeted for the second half of 2026.
Semaglutide, sold as Ozempic, Wegovy and Rybelsus, held 49 percent of the market by drug type in 2025, with tirzepatide, sold as Mounjaro and Zepbound, projected to grow fastest.
Eli Lilly’s worldwide Mounjaro revenue reached US$9.9bn in the second quarter of 2026, up 91 percent year over year, Towards Healthcare said, with US Zepbound revenue at US$4.9bn, up 44 percent.
Mounjaro’s international revenue rose 172 percent, though the report noted that lower realized prices partially offset volume growth.
US regulatory action in 2026 targeted non-approved compounded GLP-1 products and proposed excluding semaglutide, tirzepatide and liraglutide from the 503B bulk-drug list where no clinical need for compounding was identified.
