Ozempic, Wegovy reduces alcoholism symptoms, study shows

A team of researchers from the University of Oklahoma and Oklahoma State University announced this week that it has published the first evidence that the drug semaglutide specifically reduces symptoms of alcohol use disorder.

Semaglutide has made headlines as an FDA-approved drug for the treatment of diabetes under the name Ozempic and weight loss under the name Wegovy.

“This research marks a significant step forward in our understanding of the potential therapeutic applications of semaglutide in the field of addiction medicine,” said Dr. Jesse Richards, OU assistant professor of medicine and director of obesity medicine.

The team said larger, controlled studies will be needed to validate and expand on the initial findings. One such clinical trial is underway at the OSU Hardesty Center for Clinical Research and Neuroscience in Tulsa.

Richards said the anecdotal evidence about semaglutide’s possible effect on alcohol use has been piling up.

“That’s one of the big things that brought this up — people were spontaneously reporting this,” he said.

Richards recalled one of his patients who used to consume a case of beer over just a few hours at the lake. After starting to use semaglutide for weight loss, he lost all craving for beer and cut back.

“That was the first one that really made me sit up and take notice,” Richards said.

Also promising, officials said, is that low doses of the medication are producing the reported results.

The team published its initial evidence on Monday in a paper in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry. The paper outlines the outcomes of six patients who received semaglutide during treatment for weight loss, demonstrating a significant decrease in their test scores that identify alcohol disorders.

Dr. Kyle Simmons, the paper’s senior author and professor of pharmacology and physiology at the OSU Center for Health Sciences, is conducting the current clinical trial in Tulsa.

The effort, dubbed STAR (Semaglutide Therapy for Alcohol Reduction), is funded by the Hardesty Family Foundation and OSU-CHS.

“With the publication of this case series, the stage is set for future clinical trials, such as the STAR studies, which can definitively tell us whether semaglutide is safe and effective for treatment of alcohol use disorder,” Simmons said.

A sister study is underway in Baltimore, funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse.

Richards said the team is motivated in part by what the research could mean for Oklahoma. The state has some of the nation’s highest rates of obesity, diabetes and alcohol intake, with rural, underserved populations being hit especially hard.

“One of the things that is really driving us is how we may end up helping improve the lives of a lot of Oklahomans who deal with multiple issues,” Richards said. “This could help their primary care providers take better care of them.”

“It’s a medication that addresses a uniquely Oklahoma problem,” Simmons said. “Here we have a single medication that may address some of the long-term health outcomes and consequences of these big public health problems that we have here in Oklahoma.”

Simmons cautioned, however, that the new research shouldn’t prompt people to start requesting the drug to treat alcohol disorders just yet.

“We don’t know if it’s safe and effective in well-validated trials,” he said. “Also, we currently have FDA-approved treatments, and really that’s where people should be focusing right now.”

“It’s important to make that point because I’m worried that patients are going to run out and pressure their providers,” he added.

The researchers praised the spirit of teamwork that the effort represents and which they expect to continue.

“This is an example of what can happen when our two R-1 research institutions in Oklahoma collaborate,” Simmons said.