Recent research suggests that GLP-1 medications, widely known for treating obesity, may help reduce alcohol cravings in individuals with alcohol use disorder. While some physicians have already begun prescribing these drugs off-label for this purpose, clinical evidence is now emerging to support this practice.
A recent Phase 2 clinical trial, published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, investigated the effects of semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy, on alcohol consumption patterns. The study included 48 participants who were either obese or overweight and diagnosed with alcohol use disorder.
Over an eight-week period, researchers found that participants receiving semaglutide demonstrated approximately 50% greater reduction in alcohol consumption compared to those given placebo, as measured by breath alcohol concentration during controlled drinking sessions. While the study showed a statistically significant decrease in drinks per drinking day, it did not affect the overall number of drinking days versus non-drinking days. However, participants reported reduced alcohol cravings compared to the placebo group.
Though promising, these results from this small-scale trial are preliminary and insufficient for FDA approval for alcohol use disorder treatment. Novo Nordisk is currently conducting a larger Phase 2 trial examining semaglutide, cagrilintide, and an experimental liver drug in patients with both alcohol use disorder and liver disease.
Additional research is underway at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, where researchers are preparing to study Eli Lilly’s tirzepatide (marketed as Zepbound) for alcohol use disorder. Lilly’s CEO has also indicated the company’s intention to explore Zepbound’s potential in treating both alcohol and drug addiction.
The researchers, led by Christian Hendershot from the University of Southern California, suggest that reduced alcohol consumption on a large scale could lead to significant public health benefits. This hypothesis is supported by a Swedish study of over 200,000 patient records, which found that individuals with alcohol or substance use disorders who took semaglutide or liraglutide had significantly lower rates of alcohol or drug-related hospitalizations.
However, a meta-analysis examining multiple studies has introduced some uncertainty regarding these findings. Currently, the FDA has approved only three medications for reducing alcohol consumption: disulfiram (1951), naltrexone (1994), and acamprosate (2004). In Europe, Lundbeck’s Selincro was approved in 2013 for reducing heavy drinking days in alcohol-dependent individuals, though it never received FDA approval for this indication in the United States.
Semaglutide is currently FDA-approved under the brand names Wegovy for obesity and Ozempic for diabetes. Similarly, tirzepatide is marketed as Zepbound for obesity and Mounjaro for diabetes. The potential expansion of these medications into alcohol use disorder treatment represents a new frontier in addiction medicine, though larger and more comprehensive studies will be necessary to fully understand their effectiveness in this context.
The intersection of appetite suppression and addiction control mechanisms suggests these medications might have broader applications beyond their current approved uses. As research continues, the medical community awaits more definitive evidence about the potential role of GLP-1 drugs in treating alcohol use disorder, which could provide new options for a condition with limited treatment alternatives.