According to a research released Wednesday in JAMA Psychiatry, the popular medications Ozempic and Wegovy may help people reduce their alcohol use.
Researchers discovered that those using a GLP-1 medication, such as semaglutide, had a lower risk of being hospitalized for alcohol-related problems in a study of almost 228,000 individuals with alcohol use disorder in Sweden.
The National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism estimates that little over 28 million individuals in the United States suffer from alcohol addiction.
However, there are only three licensed medications to treat it.
According to Alex DiFeliceantonio, an associate professor at Virginia Tech’s Fralin Biomedical Research Institute, “relapse is really common and the pharmacological treatments available for AUD are not very good.”
“I see so many patients who do not have good outcomes on the medications we have and who are desperate for help with their addiction,” stated Dr. Markku Lähteenvuo, the study’s principal psychiatrist and researcher at Finland’s Niuvanniemi Hospital. We truly need to add additional tools to our arsenal.
Semaglutide and other well-known medications like tirzepatide are part of the GLP-1 pharmacological class, which has demonstrated promise in the treatment of addiction.
According to a 2022 clinical study, exenatide, an older GLP-1 medication, decreased drinking, but only in people with obesity and alcohol use disorder. Drinking patterns among GLP-1 medication users without alcohol use problem have been the subject of several additional research.
Lahteenvuo and his colleagues examined medical data of 228,000 Swedish individuals diagnosed with alcohol consumption disorder between 2006 and 2023 for their new study. Additionally, every participant in the research had either Type 2 diabetes or obesity.
During the research period, almost 60% of the individuals were admitted to the hospital due to an alcohol use disorder.
Approximately 75,000 participants in the research were treated for alcohol consumption disorder using medication of some kind. The team recorded around 30,000 hospitalizations within that group. Each tally does not necessarily reflect a specific individual because the researchers counted the overall number of hospitalizations. It’s possible that some patients have had several hospital stays.
Those who took a GLP-1 medication had significantly fewer hospitalizations for alcohol-related reasons.
About 220 hospitalizations for alcohol use disorder were reported among the approximately 4,300 trial participants who took semaglutide, the active component in Ozempic and Wegovy. Other trial participants who were using older GLP-1 medications, such as dulaglutide and liraglutide, also saw fewer hospitalizations.
Although it is an imprecise metric, doctors indicated that using hospitalization to assess the medications’ effects on alcohol use disorder is a decent place to start.
“A person would need to be admitted to the hospital due to alcohol poisoning or withdrawal, which is a fairly severe consequence,” DiFeliceantonio stated.
However, she said that hospital data is easily accessible and can assist researchers in identifying which medications would be effective for certain addictions as well as which clinical trials to do first.
Growing evidence indicates that GLP-1 agonists need further investigation, particularly in the context of alcoholism.
Christian Hendershot, head of clinical research at the University of Southern California Institute for Addiction Science, stated, “GLP-1 receptor agonists have long been known to decrease alcohol intake and motivation to consume alcohol based on animal studies.”
He said that the current study’s exclusive inclusion of individuals with alcohol use disorder provides more accurate information on the potential efficacy of the medicines for those suffering from substance addiction.
It’s still unclear how a diabetic medication may address addiction.
According to one view, its benefits could be related to the medications’ capacity to create a sense of fullness. That could lessen drug and alcohol cravings in the same way that medications lessen desires for food, according to Hendershot.
He said, “They might also lessen the rewarding effects of drugs.”
Other hypotheses also exist. According to Lähteenvuo, the sugar in alcohol can be a contributing factor. He claimed that GLP-1 medications reduce the attraction of sugary drinks.
The manner that newer GLP-1 medications, such tirzepatide and semaglutide, reach the brain differs from that of previously researched forms, therefore testing both will be crucial going ahead. According to DiFeliceantonio.
Although the medications are extremely safe for those who have Type 2 diabetes and obesity, Hendershot stated that because of the weight loss they promote, they may pose serious safety hazards to those who do not have either condition.
GLP-1 medications have also been investigated in early studies for opiate and nicotine addiction, with varying degrees of success. Studies on alcohol addiction have so far produced the most lucid findings, yet much remains to be discovered.
“At the moment, there are just three FDA-approved drugs to treat alcohol consumption disorder. Compared to drugs authorized to treat other illnesses, this is little, Hendershot stated. “Our field depends critically on any research we can do on other drugs, including GLP-1 agonists.”
