Ozempic May Reduce Risk of Alcohol Abuse – Neuroscience News

Summary: The diabetes drugs Wegovy and Ozempic, which contain semaglutide, significantly reduce the incidence and recurrence of alcohol use disorder (AUD). When examining health records, researchers observed a 50% to 56% reduction in AUD among patients treated with semaglutide.

These findings suggest a new potential treatment for AUD. This study highlights the need for further clinical trials.

Important information:

1. Semaglutide, found in Wegovy and Ozempic, reduces the problem of using alcohol by 50%-56%.
2. The study reviewed the electronic health records of nearly 84,000 obese patients.
3. The findings may lead to new treatments for AUD, but further clinical trials are needed.

Source: Case Western Reserve

A new study conducted by researchers at Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine reveals that the popular diabetes and weight loss drugs Wegovy and Ozempic are associated with a reduction in the incidence and recurrence of drug abuse. alcoholism or addiction.

The team’s findings, recently published in the journal The nature of communication, may suggest a new potential treatment for alcohol abuse—including alcohol use disorder ( AUD), a health condition that causes about 178,000 deaths in the United States each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control.

To date, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has approved only three medications to treat AUD.

The active ingredient in Wegovy and Ozempic is semaglutide, which belongs to a class of drugs known as glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1). GLP-1 helps control blood sugar in type 2 diabetes and reduces appetite.

The researchers analyzed the electronic health records of nearly 84,000 patients with obesity. They found those treated with semaglutide, compared to those treated with other anti-obesity medications, showed a 50% to 56% reduction in the onset and recurrence of alcohol use problems in the following year. .

“This is very promising news that we may have a new therapeutic approach to treat AUD,” said Rong Xu, a professor of biomedical informatics at the School of Medicine and lead researcher on the study.

Xu, who is also director of the medical school’s AI Drug Discovery Center, joined medical school co-authors Nathan Berger, Hanna-Payne Professor of Experimental Medicine, and Pamela Davis, Arline H .and Curtis F. Garvin Research Professor. Nora D. Volkow, director of the National Institute on Drug Abuse, also co-authored the study.

“We collected real-world evidence in a similar fashion to our two previous studies reported earlier this year,” Berger said.

“In January we showed that semaglutide was associated with a reduction in suicidal thoughts, and in March, we showed that semaglutide was also associated with a reduction in new attempts and relapses of cannabis.”

Similar findings were replicated when the team reviewed electronic health records for nearly 600,000 patients with type 2 diabetes. Again, they found a steady decline in the diagnosis of diabetes. alcohol use among those treated with semaglutide.

“Although the findings are promising and provide preliminary evidence of the potential benefit of semaglutide in AUD in a real-world population,” Davis said, “more clinical trials are needed to support its clinical use for AUD.”

About this research issues neuropharmacology and AUD

Author: Rong Xu
Source: Case Western Reserve
Contact: Rong Xu – Case Western Reserve
Image: Image credited to Neuroscience News

Basic research: Open access.
“Associations of semaglutide with incidence and recurrence of alcohol use disorder in a real-world population” by Rong Xu et al. Nature Communication

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Summary

Associations of semaglutide with incidence and recurrence of alcohol use disorder in a real-world population

Alcohol use disorders are one of the leading causes of disease burden worldwide, yet treatment interventions are limited. The reduced desire to drink in patients treated with semaglutide has raised interest in its therapeutic benefits for alcohol use disorders.

In this retrospective cohort study of electronic health records of 83,825 patients with obesity, we show that semaglutide compared to other anti-obesity medications is associated with a 50%-56% lower risk for incidence and recurrence of alcohol use disorder for a 12. -month follow-up period.

A consistent reduction was seen in patients stratified by sex, age group, race and in patients with and without type 2 diabetes. Similar findings have been reported in a population of 598,803 patients with type 2 diabetes.

These studies provide evidence of the potential benefits of semaglutide in AUD in real-world populations and require further randomized clinical trials.