{"id":2027,"date":"2024-05-17T15:20:31","date_gmt":"2024-05-17T15:20:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/healthyretirementnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/17\/ozempic-maker-novo-nordisk-says-it-will-study-drugs-effects-on-alcohol-consumption-but-isnt-focused-on-addiction\/"},"modified":"2024-05-17T15:20:31","modified_gmt":"2024-05-17T15:20:31","slug":"ozempic-maker-novo-nordisk-says-it-will-study-drugs-effects-on-alcohol-consumption-but-isnt-focused-on-addiction","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/healthyretirementnews.com\/index.php\/2024\/05\/17\/ozempic-maker-novo-nordisk-says-it-will-study-drugs-effects-on-alcohol-consumption-but-isnt-focused-on-addiction\/","title":{"rendered":"Ozempic maker Novo Nordisk says it will study drug\u2019s effects on alcohol consumption but isn\u2019t focused on addiction"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

When Cheri Ferguson started taking Ozempic last year, she said, she hoped to lose about 50 pounds she\u2019d gained during the Covid-19 pandemic. <\/p>\n

But it had another unexpected effect: Ferguson said her desire to drink alcohol and use her vape pen also drained away. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s like someone\u2019s just come along and switched the light on, and you can see the room for what it is,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd all of these vapes and cigarettes that you\u2019ve had over the years, they don\u2019t look attractive anymore. It\u2019s very, very strange. Very strange.\u201d <\/p>\n

It\u2019s a feeling described by thousands of people taking these medicines, which are in a class known as GLP-1 receptor agonists and used by an estimated 15 million Americans, according to a recent poll. And now, Ozempic\u2019s maker, Novo Nordisk, said it intends to study the phenomenon. <\/p>\n

The company plans to start assessing the effects of semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic, and other medicines on alcohol consumption this month in a newly announced clinical trial in alcohol-related liver disease \u2013 although cutting drinking isn\u2019t the study\u2019s main goal. <\/p>\n

A focus on liver disease, not addiction<\/h2>\n

The Danish drug giant has been saying since at least last year that it doesn\u2019t plan to study semaglutide \u2013 which is also approved for weight loss as Wegovy \u2013 in areas like alcohol addiction, despite so many anecdotal reports like Ferguson\u2019s, and academic studies that are already underway. <\/p>\n

Novo Nordisk reiterated that stance Wednesday, noting that the main purpose of its new trial is to assess whether the medicines can improve liver health. Its primary measure is the medicines\u2019 effects on enhanced liver fibrosis, or scarring, over 28 weeks. <\/p>\n

\u201cSecondary endpoints include safety and tolerability and changes in alcohol consumption,\u201d a Novo Nordisk spokesperson said in an email. \u201cThere is 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.\u201d <\/p>\n

The trial, first reported by Bloomberg News, aims to enroll about 240 participants and is slated to begin May 20, according to a government database. <\/p>\n

\u201cEven though not all patients in the trial will have alcohol use disorder, it is natural to include alcohol consumption as a secondary endpoint,\u201d Novo Nordisk\u2019s spokesperson said, noting that the trial is part of the company\u2019s plans to address liver diseases more broadly. <\/p>\n

Nonetheless, researchers in addiction science cheered the news. <\/p>\n

A need for more treatments<\/h2>\n

\u201cThose of us doing work in this area see this as a step in the right direction,\u201d Christian Hendershot, an assistant professor in the Department of Psychiatry and Bowles Center of Alcohol Studies at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who is running one of the few studies in this area, said by email Wednesday. \u201cAdditional treatment options for this group are really needed.\u201d <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u00a0know\u00a0that\u00a0one\u00a0of\u00a0the\u00a0benefits\u00a0in\u00a0obesity\u00a0is\u00a0that\u00a0it\u00a0addresses\u00a0this\u00a0craving,\u00a0the\u00a0desire,\u00a0to\u00a0snack\u00a0and eat,\u201d Lars Fruergaard Jorgensen said. \u201cThat function in the brain, in this craving center, is perhaps also what is benefitting some of the other addictions.\u201d <\/p>\n

Jorgensen said Novo Nordisk hadn\u2019t studied that effect and had no plans to do so at the time. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s\u00a0not\u00a0the\u00a0easiest\u00a0to\u00a0study,\u201d he noted. \u201cYou shouldn\u2019t expect that we would go in and study these addictions widely.\u201d <\/p>\n

Jorgensen did say there could be \u201can opportunity to collect data when we do large studies,\u201d as well as to use artificial intelligence to mine large databases of experiences with the medicines in the real world for signals of effects on things like alcohol use. <\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Eli Lilly, which makes tirzepatide-based competitors to Ozempic and Wegovy called Mounjaro and Zepbound, said Wednesday that it too had seen \u201canecdotal commentary in publications about the potential use of GLP-1s for additional indications like addiction.\u201d <\/p>\n

But while the Indianapolis-based drugmaker continues \u201cto evaluate future development options for tirzepatide,\u201d the spokesperson said the company hadn\u2019t announced any plans to develop its medicines for those uses. <\/p>\n

An unattractive market for drugmakers<\/h2>\n

Medicines for addiction, and particularly for alcohol use, haven\u2019t been successful financially for the drug industry, leading to less interest from pharmaceutical companies in developing drugs in the space. <\/p>\n

Research from financial firm TD Cowen found that less than 5% of the 29 million Americans estimated to have alcohol-use disorder receive drug therapy. The firm pointed to issues like doctors not being familiar with medicines to treat alcohol use and compliance with the drugs. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s very promising and exciting that a company like Novo Nordisk is taking the lead in conducting such an important clinical trial,\u201d Leggio said. <\/p>\n

Novo Nordisk is looking at multiple medicines in its newly announced trial in alcohol-related liver disease; in addition to semaglutide, the company said it will investigate experimental drugs cagrilintide and zalfermin \u2013 listed on the trial posting as NNC0194-0499 \u2013 alone and in combination. <\/p>\n

\n
    <\/ul>\n<\/div>\n

    Cagrilintide is a medicine that mimics a hormone called amylin that Novo Nordisk is testing in combination with semaglutide \u2013 which mimics another hormone, called GLP-1 \u2013 in large trials in both diabetes and weight loss, calling the combination CagriSema. Zalfermin, the company said, acts like yet another metabolic hormone, FGF21, which is produced mainly in the liver. <\/p>\n

    Though trials in use of semaglutide and similar medicines have been slow to start, so many reports of the drugs\u2019 effects on alcohol use have emerged that Leggio, Hendershot and other researchers warned in a commentary in the journal Nature Medicine that the drugs shouldn\u2019t be prescribed for alcohol-use disorder until their safety and efficacy has been proven in clinical trials. <\/p>\n

    \u201cClinical decisions should follow from controlled studies, triangulated with other clinical and preclinical evidence,\u201d the researchers wrote in the December commentary. \u201cWell-controlled [trials] with scientific rigor are needed before any claim of efficacy for alcohol-use disorder and other substance use disorders can be made.\u201d <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

    This post appeared first on cnn.com<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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