Unexpected results.
That’s exactly what clinicians are finding with the administration of Ozempic to Type II Diabetic patients. This pill is prescribed with the aim of lowering the critical values of A1c, yielding better control of the disease and its side effects, plus the added bonus of letting the patients lose a moderate (8 or so pounds) weight.
Those are the intended results.
Unexpected results? Patients report that they have abandoned imbibing alcohol and others report their ability to stop smoking when taking the drug. In other words, the mode of action that Ozempic effects within the brain also affects addictive behaviors.
It seems that the active ingredient in Ozempic, semaglutide (which is also present in the weight loss drug Wegovy) is providing these unexpected results. (The drug demonstrated such behavior in animal studies, but when the drug was administered to humans in clinical trials, the results were far more mixed.) This drug mimics the action of GLP-1 [Glucogon-like peptide], a natural hormone produced by the intestines to regulate glucose levels and to suppress hunger. (It is also produced in the brain stem, where it regulates actions in the brain regions- activities such as impulse control, memory formation, and reward behaviors [the mesolimbic pathway that effects responses to dopamine]).
We have no idea what the long-term issues will be with the use of these drugs for non-diabetic patients. Moreover, the costs for these drugs means a most difficult cost-benefit scenario. The current drug (Naltrexone) for similar conditions that Ozempic is providing funds about $ 30 a month; these drugs increase those costs by a factor of 10 or more.
However, given these human findings, folks like Dr. Lorenzo Leggio (National Institutes of Health) is developing a trial of semaglutide for overweight/obese patients. Another study is already going on at the University of North Carolina (under the auspices of Dr. John Buse) examining the effects of semaglutide for alcohol abusers who also smoke. Novo-Nordisk (the manufacturer of Ozempic, based in Denmark) is also funding Dr. Anders Fink Jensen at the University of Copenhagen to determine the effects on obese folks with alcohol abuse disorder.
Keep tuned for future results.
Sometimes, things sound too good to be true, or sounds like the next miracle drug (until it isn’t) but this seems to have some solid science behind it. Someone is due a pile of profits. I understand, that this is expensive. I looked Ozempic up on Good RX (a site that those without insurance or with bad insurance use) and, at the pharmacy I use, it would be $905 for ONE dose. If it turns out to have a lot of legit uses, would this change, I wonder?
Thanks for adding to the conversation. That information clearly makes the issues clear.