Weight reduction drugs may cut alcohol, opioid use

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Yet one other study shows that blockbuster GLP-1 drugs may offer health advantages beyond diabetes and weight reduction. 

This time, more research is showing that they might significantly curb addictive behaviors. 

Drugs comparable to Novo Nordisk‘s highly popular diabetes injection Ozempic can cut drug and alcohol abuse by around half, in keeping with a recent study published last week within the scientific journal Addiction. That means Ozempic and similar medications could potentially develop into a recent treatment for opioid and alcohol use disorder. 

“This study not only contributes to the evolving landscape of substance use therapy but additionally opens avenues for more comprehensive and effective treatment strategies for those affected by” the 2 disorders, the study authors wrote. 

Here’s why that is necessary. 

More tools are needed to handle the continued U.S. opioid epidemic, which was declared a public health emergency in 2017. In 2021, an estimated 2.5 million people ages 18 or above within the U.S. had opioid use disorder prior to now yr, but only 22% received medications to treat it, in keeping with the National Institute on Drug Abuse. Opioids are a think about around 72% of overdose deaths within the U.S., the National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics says. 

Meanwhile, nearly 29 million people ages 12 and above had alcohol use disorder prior to now yr, in keeping with a 2023 national survey. Excessive alcohol use is the leading preventable reason for death within the U.S., as about 178,000 people die from it annually, in keeping with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. 

Let’s dive into the brand new data. 

Researchers from Loyola University Chicago examined the electronic health data of greater than 500,000 individuals with a history of opioid use disorder, 8,000 of whom were taking either GLP-1s or similar treatments called GIPs, comparable to Eli Lilly‘s weight reduction treatment Mounjaro. Mounjaro mimics GLP-1 and one other gut hormone called GIP to tamp down appetite and regulate blood sugar, while Ozempic only targets GLP-1. 

People taking GLP-1s or GIPs had a 40% lower rate of opioid overdose compared with those that didn’t, the study found. Similarly, an evaluation of greater than 5,000 individuals with a history of alcohol use disorder and who took those treatments had a 50% lower rate of intoxication compared with those that didn’t take them. 

The outcomes are not any surprise. It’s consistent with other studies showing the potential of GLP-1s and GIPs to scale back substance-seeking behaviors comparable to alcohol and nicotine use. Other research has also shown their promise in treating kidney failure, fatty liver disease, Alzheimer’s disease and obstructive sleep apnea. 

Novo Nordisk’s weight reduction drug Wegovy also won approval within the U.S. in March for slashing the danger of significant cardiovascular complications in adults with obesity and heart disease.

But more research is probably going needed to verify the findings of the brand new study. Researchers have called for more clinical trials that randomly assign patients with a substance use disorder to receive a GLP-1 or a placebo, to verify the potential treatment advantages of medication like Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro. 

We’ll proceed to observe what other research on this area comes out, so stay tuned for our coverage. 

Be at liberty to send any suggestions, suggestions, story ideas and data to Annika at annikakim.constantino@nbcuni.com.

That is Ashley, reporting live from Las Vegas. 

I’ve spent the previous couple of days on the exhibition floor on the health-care technology conference called HLTH. Corporations like Microsoft, Nvidia, Amazon, Google and greater than 12,000 other industry leaders convened there this yr. 

This was my second time attending, and while there is a certain irony in walking through smoke-filled casinos to get to meetings concerning the way forward for health care, it is a helpful option to gauge what technologies the industry is enthusiastic about. 

As I predicted in my coverage on Sunday, generative AI dominated my discussions, very similar to it did last yr. Nevertheless, the main target was less concerning the promise or potential of the tech, and more about practical, near-term use cases for the technology. In the event you’re still skeptical about whether health systems are serious about AI, the reply is undoubtedly yes.     

There was a giant give attention to how AI could help to scale back the mountains of documentation that doctors and nurses are accountable for, which is a serious reason for burnout within the industry. This has been a hot topic all yr, so it wasn’t a surprise to me. Microsoft, Google, GE HealthCare and Amazon all introduced recent tools to handle the difficulty, as an illustration. 

“Primary care has all the time been affected by administrative tasks. That is pervasive in health care, but it surely’s especially acute in primary care,” Dr. Andrew Diamond, chief medical officer at Amazon’s primary care business One Medical, told CNBC.  “AI holds tremendous promise to automate or streamline an enormous amount of that work.” 

But while AI for administrative burnout was actually popular, other themes also began to emerge. There was numerous discuss AI agents, for instance, which might help users answer questions, automate processes and perform specific tasks. Several corporations are also working on AI tools that might help discover and streamline relevant clinical trials for patients. Microsoft and GE HealthCare each announced early stage tools in these areas. 

AI is not going to alter the industry overnight, but I used to be told over and another time that the innovation is occurring fast – especially by the standards of health care, which has a popularity for being slow to adopt recent tech. 

These corporations are attempting to tackle complex problems, but there was an actual sense of optimism on the ground. Providers, large tech incumbents and startups all appear to agree that AI is here to remain, and so they clearly intend to make use of it.

Be at liberty to send any suggestions, suggestions, story ideas and data to Ashley at ashley.capoot@nbcuni.com.