Can a Weight Loss Drug Curb the Craving for Alcohol?

A study in mice found that semaglutide, a diabetic medicine that was recently approved for the treatment of obesity, can also help cut alcohol dependence in half.

Semaglutide: A Weekly Drug That can Reduce Alcohol Craving

Semaglutide is a long-acting medication that only needs to be taken once a week. This is the first tablet-based GLP-1 receptor medicine. It is marketed under numerous brand names, including Ozempic and Wegovy. Anecdotal evidence of patients with obesity or diabetes shows that their craving for alcohol has lessened since they started taking the drug.

To better understand, researchers at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, treated alcohol-dependent rats with semaglutide.

The results, published in the scientific journal eBioMedicine, showed that the drug significantly reduced their alcohol consumption and even reduced the drinking of alcohol in conjunction with relapses.

Semaglutide can Cut Alcohol Dependence by Half

Relapses comprise a major problem for individuals with alcohol dependence, as an individual who has abstained from alcohol for a period relapses and drinks more than before the withdrawal. The treated rats also cut their alcohol intake in half compared to animals that did not receive treatment. Interestingly, semaglutide reduced alcohol intake equally in both male and female rats.

The study also examined why the medication reduces alcohol drinking. The results indicate that reduced alcohol-induced reward could be a contributing factor.

Semaglutide affected the brain's reward system in mice, to be more exact the nucleus accumbens area of the brain, which is part of the limbic system.

"Alcohol activates the brain's reward system, resulting in the release of dopamine, something that is seen in both humans and animals. This process is blocked by the medication in mice, and with our interpretation, this could cause a reduction in the alcohol-induced reward," said Cajsa Aranas, a doctoral student at Sahlgrenska Academy at the University of Gothenburg.

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According to the researchers, it is likely that these results will carry over to humans, as results from other studies on alcohol-dependence medications made with the same research model have shown similar effects in humans as in rats.

"There are, of course, differences in conducting studies on animals and humans, and these must always be taken into account. However, in this case, there is a previous study on humans in which an older version of the diabetes medications that act on GLP-1 was found to reduce alcohol intake in overweight individuals with alcohol dependence," said Elisabet Jerlhag, Professor of pharmacology at Sahlgrenska.

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Source-IANS