• Posted October 17, 2024

Weight-Loss Meds Like Wegovy Could Battle Alcoholism

Weight-loss and diabetes drugs like Ozempic, Wegovy, Mounjaro or Zepbound appear to help people battle alcoholism and opioid addiction, a new study finds.

People taking this class of drugs, called glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1), have a 50% lower rate of drunkenness than people with addiction disorders not on the meds, researchers reported Oct. 17 in the journal Addiction.

GLP-1 patients also have a 40% lower rate of opioid overdose, results show.

GLP-1 drugs “exhibited a strong protective association with alcohol intoxication among those with alcohol use disorder,” concluded the research team led by Fares Qeadan, an associate professor of biostatistics at Loyola University in Chicago.

“Related prescriptions additionally displayed a strong protective association with opioid overdose among individuals with opioid use disorder,” the researchers added in a journal news release.

GLP-1 drugs promote weight loss by mimicking a hormone produced in response to eating. Taking the drug helps stabilize blood sugar levels, decrease feelings of hunger and slow digestion, researchers noted.

The brain region targeted by GLP-1 “overlaps with the same processes that are responsible for the development and maintenance of addictive behaviors such as chronic substance use,” the researchers said.

For this study, researchers analyzed data on more than 500,000 people with a history of opioid addiction and 817,000 with a history of alcoholism. The data, drawn from 136 U.S. health systems, spanned January 2014 to September 2022.

Researchers tracked these folks’ use of GLP-1 drugs, as well as any bouts of intoxication or overdose they experienced.

“This study may introduce a promising new treatment for substance use disorders,” researchers said.

More information

The Cleveland Clinic has more on GLP-1 drugs.

SOURCE: Society for the Study of Addiction, news release, Oct. 17, 2024