Weight-Loss Drugs May Help Alcohol and Opioid Addiction

Weight-loss drugs like Wegovy and Zepbound are transforming the health of millions of people—and a new study hints that even more could benefit from the drugs’ other effects on the body.

A study published recently in the journal Addiction shows that people with substance-use disorders who take these weight-loss drugs are less likely to experience opioid overdose or alcohol intoxication compared to those not taking the medications. The findings add to a growing list of other health benefits researchers are studying related to the medications, which target hormones called incretins that affect not just appetite, digestion, and diabetes, but also heart health, sleep, and the brain circuits connected to satisfaction and reward.

The latest study explored the link between opioid and alcohol substance-use disorders and the new class of modern weight-loss drugs. These target either glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) hormone, or glucose dependent insulinotropic polypeptide (GIP) hormone, and include semaglutide (the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy) and tirzepatide (found in Mounjaro and Zepbound). The scientists analyzed health records from more than 1.3 million people in 136 health systems across the U.S. All of the patients had either an opioid or alcohol-use disorder, and some used the weight-loss medications.

Those with opioid-use disorders who received any of these drugs showed a 40% lower incidence of opioid overdose during the study period compared to those not getting the medications, while people with alcohol-use disorders receiving the prescriptions showed a 50% lower incidence of intoxication compared to those who didn't take them.

“This suggests that [the drugs'] beneficial effects on addiction-related behaviors may extend beyond their traditional role in managing weight or diabetes,” says Fares Qeadan, lead study author and associate professor of biostatistics at Loyola University Chicago.

Read More: Scientists Are Studying Weight-Loss Drugs for Way More Than Weight Loss

The possibility makes biological sense, since the GLP-1 and GIP systems affect the reward circuits in the brain, which are involved in generating feelings of satisfaction and reward. Those circuits are implicated in both food consumption and other addictive behaviors. Animal studies have found that rodents given these medications reduced their intake of alcohol and other addictive drugs. And while that data, coupled with the current study, certainly suggest that these medications might be useful in reducing certain addiction outcomes, further human studies still need to be done to confirm whether a similar effect occurs in people.

The current study only establishes a potential association between the medications and addiction, but rigorous clinical trials that track doses of these drugs and reduced opioid or alcohol use among treated and control groups could help to clarify how useful these medications might be in treating addictions. Brain-imaging studies could also confirm how the drugs may dampen addictive behaviors.

As more research and longer term data on these weight-loss medications accumulate, other health benefits may also emerge, and doctors will have better information on which to base prescribing information. If the data support it, in coming years it may be possible that those who benefit from these drugs will not just be people with diabetes or those who are overweight or obese.

For now, says Qeadan, the data look encouraging that opioid- and alcohol-use disorders may be affected by these weight-loss medications. “We are confident that the observed effects—specifically the reduced rates of opioid overdose and alcohol intoxication—are not merely attributable to associations with Type 2 diabetes or obesity,” he says.