Ozempic 'Significantly' Lowered 'Alcohol Craving' in First Clinical Trial, with Those Taking the Drug Drinking 40% Less

Mar. 15, 2025

(Left:) Stock image of Ozempic; (Right:) Stock image of someone taking a bottle of alcohol off a shelf.Photo:Steve Christo - Corbis/Corbis via Getty; Getty

Steve Christo - Corbis/Corbis via Getty; Getty

It has been theorized thatOzempiccould potentially help with substance abuse disorders due to the way it works in the brain. Now the first clinical study on the potential link suggests that the drug may indeed help with alcohol-use disorder.

The drug — the brand name for the GLP-1 agonist semaglutide — “significantly reduced weekly alcohol craving,” according to a study published Wednesday, Feb. 12, in theJournal of the American Medical Association Psychiatry.

In May 2024, Novo Nordisk, the manufacturer of Ozempic, announced itwould study the drug’s impacton alcohol cravings, citing “a significant unmet medical need in alcohol-related liver disease, and the first line of treatment for the condition is lifestyle intervention to refrain from drinking alcohol.”

Stock image of Ozempic.Steve Christo/Corbis/Corbis/Getty

Steve Christo/Corbis/Corbis/Getty

The study consisted of 48 participants (34 women, 14 men), with half the participants receiving a weekly low-dose injection of semaglutide, while the other half received a placebo. Participants in the study were placed in a casual setting with a stocked bar.

“They were free to drink as much as they wanted to, up to a limit we set,”Dr. Christian Hendershot, director of clinical research at the USC Institute for Addiction Science and the lead author of the study, toldCNN. Over the nine-week trial, not only were alcohol cravings reduced, but when those on the medication did drink alcohol, they drank less. Plus, a subgroup saw “greater relative reductions in cigarettes per day.”

“We hoped to see a reduction in drinking and craving,” Hendershot told the outlet of the study, which saw those on semaglutide drinking 40% less alcohol than those on the placebo. “What I didn’t expect was the magnitude of the effects looks fairly good … compared to other alcohol-use disorder medications.”

However, those taking Ozempic have reportedother benefits, such as decreased risks of heart disease, kidney disease andAlzheimer’s disease, as well as increased fertility and a reduction in alcohol cravings.

Stock image of liquor bottles.Tetra Images/Getty

Tetra Images/Getty

While some of these benefits are a result of weight loss, the way semaglutide works to reduce cravings may, indeed, be connected to addiction.

A study in the journalAddictionfound that people addicted to alcohol who took Ozempic or similar medications had a 50% lower rate of binging on alcohol than those who did not. And people with opioid use disorder who were taking the medications had a 40% lower rate of opioid overdose.

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As the study says, “Alcohol and cigarette use (along with obesity) are leading preventable causes of mortality and preventable cancer deaths, making individuals who smoke and drink heavily —including those with overweight or obesity — a priority population.”

“These findings provide initial prospective evidence that low-dose semaglutide can reduce craving and some drinking outcomes” researchers said, “justifying larger clinical trials to evaluate GLP-1RAs for alcohol use disorder.”

source: people.com