Ozempic cut heavy drinking in clinical study – POLITICO Europe

The small study suggests there’s promise in further investigating the drug in this field. AI generated Text-to-speechTaking Ozempic or Wegovy once-a-week has shown to reduce heavy drinking and cravings in a small study of people with alcohol-use disorder.The U.S.-based trial involving 48 people with moderate alcohol-use disorder found that semaglutide, the diabetes and obesity medication, “significantly reduced alcohol craving and drinks per drinking day.”Recent reports linking semaglutide or drugs of the same class to alcohol-related outcomes have previously relied on “observational or anecdotal data,” the study said.The U.S. researchers said the results justify larger clinical trials to evaluate this class of drugs — known as glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists — for alcohol use disorder. The study is published today in the Journal of the American Medical Association.“We hoped to see a reduction in drinking and craving,” said Christian Hendershot, lead author of the study from the University of Southern California. “What I didn’t expect was the magnitude of the effects looks fairly good … compared to other alcohol-use disorder medications.”Stephen Burgess from Cambridge university said the study was a small “but an exciting one.” “This study serves as an initial indication that semaglutide and similar weight-loss drugs may be beneficial for treating alcohol use disorder, at least in the short term,” he said.But he added that larger and longer studies would be needed to understand whether people who stop the treatment can still maintain a healthy alcohol status post-treatment.The source of the coronavirus, which is estimated to have killed 7 million people, has been a controversial mystery for years. But the drugs alone won’t entirely solve the problem that affects 1 in 6 people worldwide, they say.But Hungary’s minister reminded countries that the move was nonbinding, as Germany and Greece abstained.The vote is symbolic but lawmakers still couldn’t come to an agreement.

Source: https://www.politico.eu/article/ozempic-cut-heavy-drinking-in-clinical-study-first/