Ozempic shown to reduce alcohol intake in world-first trial

A world-first study has shown that Ozempic can reduce drinking among those with alcohol-use disorder (AUD). 

A small clinical trial, published in JAMA Psychiatry, studied 48 people with signs of moderate alcohol-use disorder and found that those taking semaglutide – the generic name of Ozempic – for nine weeks saw significantly reductions in how much alcohol they drank, as well as cravings for alcohol, compared with people on a placebo.

The findings underscore many real-world claims of those taking these medicines have already hinted at: Ozempic and similar drugs, already incredibly popular, could help reduce risks of over-consuming alcohol, if the results bear out in larger and longer trials.

Christian Hendershot, director of clinical research at the University of Southern California Institute for Addiction Science and the lead author of the study, said, "We hoped to see a reduction in drinking and craving."

"What I didn't expect was the magnitude of the effects looks fairly good … compared to other alcohol-use disorder medications."

The drug works in both the gut and the brain, which may be the way they could help with alcohol-use disorder, said Lorenzo Leggio, a physician-scientist at the US National Institutes of Health who wasn't involved in this study.

"More research is needed to understand the mechanism(s) of action of these medications in AUD," Leggio, who's published research on semaglutide's ability to reduce alcohol drinking in animals, wrote to CNN.

"Nonetheless, the work done now suggests that mechanisms may include their effect in reducing alcohol craving and in reducing the rewarding effects of alcohol."

Whether Ozempic and other similar drugs present a new way of treating AUD will depend on larger trials in patients more heavily afflicted by the disorder, experts said, and potentially whether research can yield a better understanding of how the medicines work to reduce drinking.

Image credits: Shutterstock