Jeff Casberg, M.S., Says GLP-1s Are Poised to Drive U.S. Drug Spending Over the Next Three Years
Jeffrey Casberg, M.S., vice president of clinical pharmacy at IPD Analytics, shared his insights on the results of Managed Healthcare Executive’s annual Pharmacy Survey in this part-two interview of a three-video series. In the interview, he discussed survey respondents’ views on Alzheimer’s disease as a leading driver of rising U.S. drug spending over the next three years. More than 100 healthcare industry experts took part in this year’s survey.
In Managed Healthcare Executive’s 2025 annual pharmacy survey, U.S. healthcare professionals shared their opinions on the latest drugs, policies, PBMs and more that are impacting the pharmacy space and healthcare overall.
Experts weighed in on one question—out of more than 10 included in the survey—asking which drug categories will drive the biggest increases in U.S. healthcare spending.
Jeffrey Casberg, M.S., vice president of clinical pharmacy at IPD Analytics, offered his perspective—and pointed to a clear frontrunner.
While many survey respondents pointed to autoimmune diseases and cancer as the top conditions, Casberg said he would have gone in a different direction: glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) drugs, a class of medications primarily used for weight loss and diabetes.
“So, the utilization (per member per month) increase for GLP-1s in 2023 and 2024 were almost unprecedented,” Casberg said. “I don’t think 2025 is going to have the percent increase that the last two years did. But that being said, it’s still a monster. It’s still the holy grail of pharmaceuticals, and it’s not going away. So I would have chosen it.”
Casberg acknowledged the continued cost pressures from cancer and autoimmune therapies but highlighted that GLP-1s are in a league of their own right now.
Related: Survey Predictions on New Drugs May Miss Mark on Budget Impact, Says Jeffrey Casberg, IPD Analytics
Beyond the more predictable categories, Casberg pointed out another area to watch: treatments for transthyretin amyloid cardiomyopathy (ATTR-CM), an underdiagnosed and potentially fatal disease of the heart muscle.
He highlighted two new drugs recently approved to treat the condition: Attruby (acoramidis) from BridgeBio and Amvuttra (vutrisiran) from Alnylam Pharmaceuticals.
Casberg added these new therapies will compete with established Pfizer products such as Vyndaqel (tafamidis meglumine) and Vyndamax (tafamidis).
“It’s kind of a newer therapy,” said Casberg. “I like it as a pharmacist to talk about it, and I think it’s going to be a cost driver in the future.”
As drug development continues to advance across a number of conditions, Casberg’s views suggest that pharmacy leaders and payers should prepare for continued spending growth—especially in high-demand areas such as weight loss, chronic disease management and rare conditions.
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