GLP-1 Medications for PCOS: What Recent Research Shows

Short version: the research on GLP-1s and PCOS has gotten genuinely exciting — and it matches what we see in our own clinics.

The question about PCOS comes up enough that I thought it'd be good to write a quick note about it. PCOS affects 6–10% of women of reproductive age, it's tied closely to insulin resistance, and for decades the treatment options were honestly pretty lousy. Metformin and crossed fingers, basically.

Here's what caught my attention in the 2025 data: prescriptions of GLP-1 medications (Semaglutide and Tirzepatide) for women with PCOS went up 637% from 2021 to 2025. A 7-fold increase. Doctors don't move like that unless they're seeing real results.

The research lines up on a few things:

• Weight loss: tirzepatide averaging around 21.7%, semaglutide around 16.4% — both well past metformin

• Semaglutide restored regular menstrual cycles in up to 80% of women in clinical studies

• Both reduce androgen levels, which is what drives the acne and excess hair growth

• Both improve insulin sensitivity, which is the actual root of the condition

At our clinics in Puyallup and Federal Way, we've helped a lot of women with PCOS lose weight successfully — out of 1,300+ patients now, this is a group we know well. And here's the part the studies don't capture: PCOS patients have usually been told "just lose weight" for years, by people who had no plan for how. When the food noise finally quiets down and the scale actually moves, the look on someone's face is something else. Yikes, the years of frustration before that moment.

Which one is better? The research says tirzepatide edges out semaglutide on weight loss, semaglutide has the longer track record on cycle regulation. Honestly, that's a conversation for a consult, because the right answer depends on your situation — not on a blog post, including this one.

(original research links as always at the bottom of my summary)

-Daryl

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