Ozempic could be dished out to help curb boozing and prescription drug addiction
‘Miracle’ weight loss jabs could help cut alcohol and substance abuse problems, research has suggested.
The drugs, including Mounjaro, Ozempic and Wegovy — have been hailed as a monumental breakthrough in the war on obesity.
Now, according to US experts, the injections could also reduce alcohol intoxication and opioid overdose by almost half.
Researchers couldn’t be sure why the medicines, collectively known as GLP-1 agonists, may help in this way.
But they labelled the findings ‘significant’ and said the jabs ‘should be investigated’ as a new addiction treatment, but cautioned further research was necessary.
Semaglutide, tirzepatide and liraglutide — the active ingredient in drugs including Mounjaro, Ozempic and Wegovy — have been hailed as a monumental breakthrough in the war on obesity
Fares Qeadan, an associate professor of biostatistics at Loyola University Chicago and study lead author, said the findings ‘provide significant initial evidence that GLP-1 receptor agonists such as semaglutide are associated with reduced rates of overdose and intoxication in patients with opioid and alcohol use disorders’.
The medications, loved by Hollywood stars, spur weight loss by mimicking the actions of a hormone released in the gut after eating, called GLP-1.
In the study, researchers assessed 503,747 people with a history of opioid use disorder.
Of these, more than 8,100, had a prescription for the jabs.
They found those who had a prescription had a 40 per cent lower rate of opioid overdose compared with people without a prescription.
Of the 817,309 volunteers assessed with an alcohol-use disorder, more than 5,600 had a jab prescription.
There was a 50 per cent lower rate of intoxication compared with those who had no prescription.
Writing in the journal Addiction, the researchers said the findings could have ‘significant implications for both clinical practice and public health policy in the coming years’.
They also show that ‘GLP-1 and other related drugs should be investigated as a novel pharmacotherapy treatment option for individuals with opioid or alcohol use disorder’, they said.
But future research must first investigate the effects of using the jabs in this manner ‘more thoroughly as well as dive deeper into the short and long-term impacts’, they said.
Matt Field, a professor of psychology at the University of Sheffield, who was not affiliated with the research, also said: ‘These findings add to those from other studies, particularly animal research, which suggest that this and similar drugs might one day be prescribed to help people with addiction.
‘A note of caution is that the outcomes are very extreme instances of substance intoxication.’
Often, scientists measure abstinence or whether a person has reduced their consumption of a substance, which this research did not do.
Ozempic and its sister drug Wegovy work by triggering the body to bind to a receptor called the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1), a protein that triggers the release of hormones in the brain which keep the stomach full and tell the body to stop eating and avoid cravings
Of the 817,309 volunteers assessed with an alcohol-use disorder, more than 5,600 had a jab prescription. There was a 50 per cent lower rate of intoxication compared with those who had no prescription
He added: ‘This leaves open the possibility that while Ozempic may — for reasons currently unknown — prevent people from taking so much alcohol or heroin [that] they overdose and end up in hospital, it may not actually help them to reduce their substance use, or to abstain altogether.’
It comes after health secretary Wes Streeting this week revealed the government wants to use the jabs to boost the economy and get unemployed obese people back to work.
Weight-related illness costs the economy £74billion a year, with people who are overweight at increased risk of heart disease, cancer and type 2 diabetes.
Two in three Britons are classed as overweight or obese and NHS figures show people now weigh about a stone more than 30 years ago.
The NHS is preparing the mass rollout of weight loss jabs to 1.6million patients.
They will be targeted at the heaviest and sickest first, the Government said last month.
But health chiefs have also cautioned that plans to dole out obesity jabs on the NHS risk overwhelming an already stretched service.
In an email to trust leaders this week, seen by the Mail, NHS England chief executive Amanda Pritchard cautioned that plans to dole out obesity jabs on the NHS risk overwhelming an already stretched service
The injections have been shown to help users lose up to 33lbs (15.3kg) on average over 68 weeks.
They work by tricking the brain into thinking it’s full, consequently slashing appetite, and helping people lose weight as a result.
Semaglutide has been available on the NHS since 2019, and in the US since 2017, for type 2 diabetics to manage blood sugar levels.
Another semaglutide drug was also approved in Britain for weight loss in 2022, and in the US in 2021, under the brand Wegovy.
Like any medication, semaglutide can cause side effects that vary in both frequency and severity. Reported problems include nausea, constipation, diarrhoea, fatigue, stomach pain, headaches and dizziness.
Bizarre symptoms, such as hair loss, have also been reported among some patients.
