Weight loss drugs Ozempic and Wegovy may also curb alcohol addiction, study says
Weight loss drugs such as Ozempic and Wegovy are enormously popular for people with diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular risk. So, health professionals wondered: Could these drugs also be the key to curbing excess drinking?
In fact, glucagon-like peptide 1 drugs such as semaglutide and liraglutide can be effective at curbing alcohol abuse, a study published Wednesday in JAMA Psychiatry suggests. Researchers in Sweden examined more than a quarter million people with alcohol-use disorder and found those who had taken GLP-1 drugs cut their risk for hospitalization.
Researchers not involved in the study described it as an important finding and one scientists had been investigating in recent years. However, they warned that Ozempic is not yet ready to replace the three medications approved by the Food and Drug Administration for alcohol abuse.
"These medications are very promising," said Lorenzo Leggio, a clinical investigator and section chief at the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA) and National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAAA). "But we haven't really reached the point to say, 'Yes, they work.' They may work."
Leggio said more research, screening and treatment are needed to address alcohol addiction. Nearly 29 million Americans have alcohol use disorder as of 2023, according to the NIAAA. That represents about 1 in 10 Americans over the age of 12.
But only 2% of people with alcohol addiction are treated for the disease, Leggio said.
"The amount of people who die because of alcohol is actually gigantic. It's even bigger than opioids," said Leggio, referring to the addiction crisis that began with pain pills and morphed into people taking illicit fentanyl.
The finding in the study is not the first of its kind.
A 2022 study of 127 people found that GLP-1 drug exenatide reduced drinking among patients with obesity. Other studies showed these weight-loss drugs can curb alcohol use in animals. However, researchers cautioned that more evidence would be needed to conclude these drugs could be used to treat alcohol and drug abuse.
In the Sweden study, researchers identified more than 133,000 people who had been hospitalized for alcohol addiction between January 2006 and December 2023. About 4,500 patients who took semaglutide, sold under the brands Ozempic and Wegovy, had the lowest risk of hospitalization. Another 2,500 who took liraglutide, marketed as Victoza and Saxenda, had the second lowest risk.
And there was another notable finding. The study determined that alcohol-addicted patients who took either version of the weight loss drugs were less likely to be hospitalized than those who took any of three existing medicines approved to treat alcohol-use disorder. The drugs being used to treat alcohol-use disorder are disulfiram, acamprosate and naltrexone.
Researchers not involved in the study cautioned it does not prove the popular weight-loss drugs work to limit drinking.
Sarah Church, a clinical psychologist and executive director of Wholeview Wellness in New York City, said more robust studies are needed
"It is critical for us to get the results of a randomized controlled trial that compares GLP-1s to the other FDA-approved medications for (alcohol addiction) before we jump to conclusions about the relative effectiveness of the different medications," Church said.
Leggio's team at NIAAA and NIDA is enrolling patients in one such study that will randomly assign alcohol-dependent patients to either semaglutide or a placebo. The study, which will follow patients over five months, will likely not be finished until 2026.