Study finds drugs like Ozempic can treat alcohol addiction

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Weight-loss drugs like Ozempic can help users shed extra pounds. New research suggests these medications may also help people with alcohol use disorders.

The study, published November 13 in the journal JAMA Psychiatryadds to the growing amount of work hinting at these drugs can help people cope with drug and alcohol addiction.

For the study, researchers used data from more than 227,000 people from the Swedish Patient Data Registry, a national database of medical records. Study participants were diagnosed alcohol use disorder between 2006 and 2021. Of these, 4,321 people used semaglutide, a drug marketed under the brand names Ozempic and Wegovy, and 2,509 people used liraglutide, another drug in the same class. These drugs are broadly called GLP-1 agonists because they mimic the hormone GLP-1, which Helps regulate appetite and hunger.

The analysis found that people who used drugs were less likely to be admitted to hospital for problems related to alcohol use disorder, such as intoxication and withdrawal symptoms such as delirium, than patients who did not use drugs. Use of semaglutide was associated with a 36% reduction in risk and liraglutide by 28%.

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In addition, the risk of hospitalization due to any Substance use disorders were 32% lower in those taking semaglutide, while liraglutide was associated with a 22% lower risk.

The researchers also looked at naltrexone, a drug approved to treat opioid and alcohol use disorders. They found that this was associated with a 14% reduction in the risk of hospitalization for alcohol and substance use.

“One of the most striking findings was that GLP-1 medications had less risk than the alcohol use disorder medications we use,” study co-author. Markku LähteenvuoAssociate Professor at the Department of Forensic Psychiatry at the University of Eastern Finland and Niuvanniemi Hospital, told Live Science.

However, Lähteenvuo stressed that this type of research cannot conclusively prove that the drug directly treats a person’s addiction. “These are associations and we need to test them in clinical trials,” he said.

However, he added, “the effect sizes were quite large, so we are hopeful that these results are real.”

Lorenzo Leggioclinical director of the intramural research program at the National Institute on Drug Abuse in Baltimore, said the work is “an exciting study that adds to the growing body of evidence” that GLP-1 agonists may help treat alcohol use disorder and addiction generally”. note that alcohol use disorders and addictions are leading causes of hospitalization, morbidity and mortality,” Leggio, who was not involved in the study, told Live Science in an email. “This study examined important outcomes (hospitalizations) that are very important from a clinical and public health perspective—another important strength of the study.”

Growing volume of work

Lähteenvuo and his colleagues are not the first to notice the connection between GLP-1 drugs and addiction.

“There was a big buzz about these drugs a few years ago, and doctors noticed that their patients seemed to be cutting back on their alcohol consumption,” he said. “It was kind of a chance find.”

Since then, early laboratory studies and some real-world studies have confirmed this observation. Research on mice And rats found that semaglutide reduced the number of episodes of binge drinking and alcohol dependence in rodents after they were given alcohol over a period of time. Additionally, some observational studies in humans, including one published Wednesday (Nov. 26) in the journal The JAMA Network is open — found that GLP-1 agonists are associated with reduced alcohol consumption in people with alcohol dependence.

And it’s not just alcohol – previous studies have found a link between drugs like Ozempic and lower risk opioid overdose And cannabis use disorder relapse.

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These recent discoveries “offer the first real hope for treating substance use disorders in decades.” Patricia “Sue” Grigsonchair of the Department of Neural and Behavioral Sciences at Penn State College of Medicine, told Live Science in an email.

However, Grigson and Leggio noted that clinical trials are needed to show that the drugs actually cause changes in addictive behavior. The safety of the drugs in this context also needs to be confirmed, Grigson added.

“These clinical trials are ongoing and some have already been completed,” Grigson said. The emerging data is encouraging, but “we must wait until further work is completed to draw firm conclusions,” she added.

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