It’s a two in one drug.
A recent study further supports the idea that the widely popular GLP-1 medication Ozempic may help individuals struggling with alcohol use disorders reduce their consumption.
The study demonstrated that, when compared to a placebo, weekly injections of semaglutide (also marketed as Wegovy for weight loss) significantly decreased alcohol cravings in people with alcohol use problems. Additionally, it appeared to reduce both the frequency and amount of alcohol consumed, according to the researchers.
Lead author Christian Hendershot, who leads clinical research at the University of Southern California’s Institute for Addiction Research, emphasized the pressing need for new treatments for alcoholism. “Currently, only two medications are approved to reduce alcohol consumption, but they are not widely used,” Hendershot said in a university news release. “The growing popularity of Ozempic and other GLP-1 receptor agonists increases the likelihood of these treatments being more widely adopted for alcohol use disorder.”
The findings were published on February 12 in JAMA Psychiatry. While the connection between GLP-1 drugs and reduced alcohol consumption is not entirely new—patients using GLP-1 drugs for diabetes or weight loss have reported decreased alcohol cravings—Hendershot’s team noted that this study is the first randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trial to explore the effect of semaglutide on alcohol use.
The trial involved 48 adult individuals with alcohol use issues who were not actively seeking treatment to reduce their drinking. The participants, who consumed more than seven drinks per week (for women) or 14 drinks per week (for men) and experienced two or more heavy drinking episodes weekly, underwent a baseline assessment where they consumed alcohol in a controlled setting.
Over the course of the nine-week study, participants received either weekly low-dose injections of Ozempic or a placebo. Their drinking habits were monitored throughout the trial.
At the end of the study, participants returned to the lab for another assessment of their alcohol consumption. As in previous research, Ozempic was linked to a reduction in both cravings and alcohol consumption. The reductions observed in this study seemed to surpass those seen with other medications currently approved to treat alcohol use disorders.
Additionally, the frequency of heavy drinking days was notably lower among those taking Ozempic. By the conclusion of the study, 40% of participants on Ozempic reported no heavy drinking days in the past month, compared to only 20% of those on the placebo.
Among a smaller group of smokers in the study, those taking Ozempic also showed a decrease in smoking rates.
“These findings suggest that semaglutide and similar medications may address an unmet need in treating alcohol use disorder,” said Dr. Klara Klein, senior author of the study. Klein, an assistant professor at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, also noted that while these results are promising, larger and longer-term studies are necessary to better understand the safety and effectiveness of these drugs in people with alcohol use disorder.
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