Ozempic could help treat two common addiction disorders

Ozempic was first approved to treat type 2 diabetes in 2017, but has gained most of its recognition in recent years as a weight-loss drug. Now, as more people are taking it and scientists are studying its effects in more detail, the drug shows promise for helping a variety of ailments. The most recent? Combat addictive behaviors.

In a new article published today in the journal Addiction, Loyola University Chicago researchers found that for a group of people with opioid use disorders who used Ozempic, they had a 40 percent lower overdose rate compared to those who did not take the weight loss drug Also, in a group of people with alcohol use disorder, people taking the drug had a 50 percent lower rate of alcohol poisoning compared to people without a prescription.

The retrospective study analyzed data from the electronic health records of more than 1 million people between January 2014 and September 2022. The authors analyzed information on 503,747 people with a history of opioid use disorder and 817,309 people with a history of alcohol use disorder. Of these two groups, 8,103 people with opioid use disorder and 5,621 with alcohol use disorder had a prescription for GLP-1 or GIP receptor agonists.

The class of drugs, known as glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists, interacts with the brain to increase satiety and increase satisfaction after eating. However, research also suggests that glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists, as well as another class of similar drugs called glucose-dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) agonists, hold promise when it comes to combating the behaviors of ‘addiction, although researchers do not currently. know the underlying mechanisms.

This finding follows animal research that has also demonstrated the ability of GLP-1 and GIP receptor agonists to deter addictive behavior. For example, a 2020 study published in the journal Translational Psychiatry found that a weekly treatment of a GLP-1 receptor agonist drug reduced alcohol consumption and preference in both male and female rats.

The authors note that because this is a retrospective study, it cannot demonstrate cause and effect. This means that we still don’t know for sure that Ozempic and other GLP-1 receptor agonists are behind the lower rates of opioid overdose and alcohol poisoning or the mechanisms through which they might be working. Future studies, including double-blind placebo-controlled studies, could help confirm these findings and suggest or uncover a mechanism.