Study details

For the study, researchers observed 48 "non-treatment-seeking" participants who met the criteria for AUD. Half of the participants took low doses of semaglutide while the other half received placebo shots.

The participants then spent two hours in a lab room stocked with their preferred alcoholic beverages, once before they started taking the drug and once after. The participants also reported how much they drank every day for nine weeks.

The researchers found that the people who took semaglutide still drank about as often as those who took the placebo at first, but by the second month of the study, the participants taking semaglutide drank almost 30% less on average on the days they consumed alcohol compared to a 2% drop in the placebo group.

In addition, the people taking semaglutide were also more likely to report fewer days of heavy drinking and to say their cravings for alcohol had diminished than the placebo group.

"Over 9 weeks of treatment, semaglutide led to reductions in some but not all measures of weekly consumption, significantly reduced weekly alcohol craving relative to placebo, and led to greater relative reductions in cigarettes per day in a subgroup of participants with current cigarette use," the researchers wrote.

Discussion

A separate study from last year, also published in JAMA Psychiatry, found that semaglutide drugs "substantially decreased" alcohol-related hospitalization risk for a group of Swedish participants with AUD and Type 2 diabetes.

Another study, published last month, looked at records of over two million people with diabetes who received medical care from the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and found that those who took a drug in the same class of medications as Ozempic had a lower risk of developing substance use disorders, including AUD, than those who took other diabetes drugs.

And in May, another study observed a large database of medical records and found that those with both AUD and either obesity or Type 2 diabetes who took semaglutide were less likely to relapse.

According to Joseph Schacht, an associate professor of psychiatry at the University of Colorado who is conducting a study on the relationship between semaglutide and alcohol cravings, scientists have yet to determine how semaglutide is affecting the desire to drink.

One of the leading hypotheses is that semaglutide impacts the reward pathways of the brain — similar to how the medication makes food seem less appealing, it could make alcohol less appealing as well. Some studies conducted in animals have shown drugs related to semaglutide seem to inhibit the release of dopamine associated with alcohol exposure, which could reduce the motivation to drink.

"I think it's going to turn people who struggle with their ability to control their drinking into, potentially, people who can control their drinking," Schacht said.

However, there are many questions about semaglutide and alcohol that still have to be answered, including whether it would be safe and effective for people with AUD but not obesity or diabetes. It's also still unclear whether someone with AUD would need to take semaglutide for the rest of their lives or what would happen once they stopped taking it.

In addition, "no one drug works for everybody," said W. Kyle Simmons, a professor of pharmacology and physiology at Oklahoma State University, adding that larger studies could show that some patients with AUD respond better to semaglutide than others.

"I'm optimistic, don't get me wrong," Simmons said. "But I just don't feel comfortable saying that patients should seek out these medications for addiction yet."

Advisory Board's weight-related resources

To help you address the growing use of weight management drugs, Advisory Board offers several resources:

This expert insight outlines the five biggest questions about weight management drugs and their answers. Similarly, this expert insight addresses what headlines get wrong about weight management drugs and what healthcare leaders should know instead.

Radio Advisory's Rachel Woods has also covered GLP-1 drugs on the podcast, discussing the potential future of these drugs and how they could help — or hurt — health systems' finances. Other useful resources include this expert insight on the five catalysts that will impact the future of obesity care and this research on four key elements of comprehensive obesity care.

Our weight management and obesity care resource library can also help leaders understand the current care landscape, manage innovations, and prepare for transformations in care.