CLEVELAND — Recent studies show that a popular weight loss drug could help people with substance abuse disorders.
The key ingredient in drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy have caused weight loss miracles in people struggling with obesity or diabetes. All those drugs contain the same active ingredient, semaglutide, which belongs to a class of drugs known as GLP-1.
Cleveland Clinic Dr. Leslie Heinberg said once taken, GLP-1 alters the reward part of the brain that creates dophaeme, making that cookie or bag of chips not have the same satisfaction.
“Because this, this is signaling to the brain, you know what I've had enough, I'm not particularly hungry, I'm not particularly craving this,” said Dr. Leslie Heinberg, Director of Enterprise Weight Management, Cleveland Clinic. “It's the same part of the brain that might get reward from a glass of wine or might get reward from an illicit drug.”
Doctors like Heinberg have started noticing their patients do not crave alcohol.
“Patients who will say, you know, I just don't enjoy my glass of wine in the evening, or I just don't really crave having a drink,” Heinberg added.
There are multiple studies around the country currently being conducted in rodents to learn more about the full brain impacts of GLP-1 and if, one day, GLP-1 drugs could be used to treat substance abuse disorders like alcohol, opioid, and nicotine addictions. The results have been promising. Some studies show that GLP-1 given to rats reduced binge-like alcohol drinking, but Dr. Scott Butsch with Cleveland Clinic said until human trials are conducted, we won't know for sure.
“There's many studies beyond just diabetes and obesity that are ongoing both in the clinical and preclinical stages that are looking into its effects of cognitive function, looking into addiction, looking into cardiovascular benefits and other benefits in different organs of the body,” added Dr. Scott Butsch, Director of Obesity Medicine at Cleveland Clinic.
Semaglutide is not yet FDA-approved for substance abuse disorders, but Heinberg believes the future looks hopeful.
"Some of these animal studies are really encouraging, absolutely,” said Heinberg. “Some of these anecdotal things that we are hearing from our patients are really encouraging, but, before we really think about this as the first line treatment for substance use disorders we need a lot more study, we need a lot more data.”
