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Weight loss drugs that work like Ozempic can help users shed pounds. Now a new study suggests that the medications can also help people with alcohol addiction.

The research, published November 13 in the journal JAMA Psychiatrycontributes to a growing work suggests these drugs can help people deal with drug and alcohol addiction.

In the study, researchers used data from over 227,000 people in Sweden’s patient data register, a national database of medical records. The study’s subjects were diagnosed alcohol abuse between 2006 and 2021. Among these, 4,321 people used semaglutide, the drug under the names Ozempic and Wegovy, and 2,509 people used liraglutide, another drug in the same class. Broadly speaking, these drugs are called GLP-1 agonists because they mimic a hormone called GLP-1 which helps regulate appetite and hunger.

The analysis found that people using the drugs were less likely to be hospitalized for problems linked to alcohol abuse, such as intoxication and withdrawal symptoms such as delirium, than those patients who did not use the drugs. Use of semaglutide was associated with a 36% lower risk and liraglutide with a 28% lower risk.

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Furthermore, the risk of hospitalization due to some substance use disorder was 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 abuse. They found that it was associated with a 14% reduction in the risk of hospitalization for problems related to alcohol and drug use.

“One of the most striking findings was that GLP-1 drugs had a lower risk than alcohol abuse medications that we use,” study co-author Markku Lähteenvuoan associate professor of forensic psychiatry at the University of Eastern Finland and Niuvanniemi Hospital, told Live Science.

That said, Lähteenvuo emphasized that these types of studies cannot definitively show that the drug directly treated a person’s addiction. “These are compounds, and we need to verify them in clinical trials,” he said.

Still, he added, “the effect sizes were quite large, so we hope these results are real.”

Lorenzo Leggioclinical director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse Intramural Research Program in Baltimore, said the work is “an interesting study that adds to the growing body of evidence” that GLP-1 agonists can help treat alcohol abuse and addiction in general. noting that alcohol abuse and misuse are leading causes of hospitalizations, morbidity and mortality, Leggio, who was not involved in the study, told LiveScience in an email. “This study examined important (hospital) outcomes that are highly relevant from a clinical and public health point of view—another key strength of the study.”

A growing work

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

“A few years ago, there was a lot of buzz about these medications, and doctors noticed that their patients seemed to reduce their alcohol intake,” he said. “It was kind of a chance find.”

Since then, early research in the lab and some real-world studies have supported this observation. Studies on mice and rats found that semaglutide reduced rodents’ intoxication episodes and alcohol dependence after they had been given alcohol for a period of time. Plus some observational studies in humans — including one published Wednesday (Nov. 26) in the journal JAMA Network Open — have found that GLP-1 agonists were linked to lower alcohol use in people with alcohol dependence.

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

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These latest findings “offer the first real hope for substance abuse treatment in decades,” Patricia “Sue” Grigsonchair of the Department of Neuronal and Behavioral Sciences at Penn State College of Medicine, told Live Science in an email.

Still, Grigson and Leggio noted that clinical trials are needed to show that the drugs actually drive this change in addictive behaviors. The safety of using the drugs in this context also needs to be confirmed, Grigson added.

“These clinical trials are ongoing, and some have been completed,” Grigson said. The new data is promising, but “we must await the completion of further work to draw firm conclusions,” she added.

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