Ozempic shown to reduce drinking in first trial in alcohol-use disorder

For years, people taking Ozempic or other drugs in the same class for diabetes and weight loss have noticed the medicines don’t just curb their desire to eat; for some, they also lead them to drink less alcohol.

For years, people taking Ozempic or other drugs in the same class for diabetes and weight loss have noticed the medicines don’t just curb their desire to eat; for some, they also lead them to drink less alcohol. Now, the first clinical trial – although relatively small and limited in duration – has confirmed it. A study of 48 people with signs of moderate alcohol-use disorder found that those taking low doses of semaglutide – the generic name of Ozempic – for nine weeks saw significantly greater reductions in how much alcohol they drank, as well as cravings for alcohol, compared with people on a placebo. The results were published Wednesday in the journal JAMA Psychiatry. The findings underscore what multiple analyses of real-world use of the so-called GLP-1 medicines, as well as studies in animals, had already hinted at: Ozempic and similar drugs, already incredibly popular, could help reduce risks of overconsuming alcohol, if the results bear out in larger and longer trials. “We hoped to see a reduction in drinking and craving,” said Dr. Christian Hendershot, director of clinical research at the USC Institute for Addiction Science and the lead author of the study. “What I didn’t expect was the magnitude of the effects looks fairly good … compared to other alcohol-use disorder medications.” Alcohol-use disorder, or AUD, affects almost 30 million people in the United States, according to the 2023 National Survey on Drug Use and Health, and it’s characterized by having trouble stopping or controlling alcohol use despite negative consequences from it.