Jing Luo, MD
Dr. Luo is a clinician investigator and general internist whose research focuses on prescription drug use, pricing, policy, and comparative effectiveness. He is especially interested in medicines for chronic diseases such as diabetes, including insulin. Prior to joining Pitt, he was a faculty member at Harvard Medical School and the Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston.
Dr. Luo serves as PI on a trial comparing human versus analogue insulin for youth with type 1 diabetes living in low resource settings (HumAn-1). You can learn more about this trial at https://www.iadadiabetes.org/human-1. He is also a NIDDK K23 awardee to examine cost-related medication restrictions among adults with type 2 diabetes.
His original investigations and perspectives have been published in NEJM, The Lancet, JAMA, JAMA Internal Medicine, and Annals of Internal Medicine. His work has been featured in the the Washington Post and VOX News.
Representative Publications
White GE, Shu I, Rometo D, Arnold J, Korytkowski M, Luo J. Real-world weight-loss effectiveness of glucagon-like peptide-1 agonists among patients with type 2 diabetes: A retrospective cohort study. Obesity (Silver Spring). 2023 Feb;31(2):534-544.
In this real-world study of more than 2,400 patients with overweight or obesity and type 2 diabetes, starting a GLP-1 agonist at standard glycemic control doses was associated with modest weight loss through 72 weeks.
Luo J, Feldman R, Rothenberger S, Kortykowski M, Fischer MA, Gellad WF. Incidence and predictors of primary nonadherence to sodium glucose co-transporter 2 inhibitors and glucagon-like peptide-1 agonists in a large integrated healthcare system. J Gen Intern Med. 2022 Nov;37(14):3562-3569.
One third of patients prescribed SGLT2i or GLP-1 agonists in this sample did not fill their prescription within 30 days. Black race, male sex, older age, having greater baseline comorbidities, and having a primary care provider vs endocrinologist prescribe the index drug were associated with higher odds of primary nonadherence.
Zupa M, Feldman R, Luo J. Trends in out-of-pocket cost of glucagon, 2010-2020. JAMA Netw Open. 2022 Aug 1;5(8):e2229428.
This cross-sectional study investigates trends in out-of-pocket costs for unmixed and novel glucagon formulations among patients with Medicare Advantage and commercial insurance from 2010 to 2020.
Luo J, Gabriel N, Korytkowski M, Hernandez I, Gellad WF. Association of formulary restrictions and initiation of an SGLT2i or GLP1-RA among Medicare beneficiaries with type 2 diabetes. Diabetes Res Clin Pract. 2022 May;187:109855.
This paper suggests having a greater number of target drugs available on less expensive formulary tiers is associated with increased odds of initiating an SGLT2i or GLP-1RA among Medicare beneficiaries with type 2 diabetes.