Friends using Ozempic-type drugs for weight loss have been talking about an unexpected side effect — as well as being far less interested in food, the drug has also left them with little desire for alcohol. They are ‘normal’ drinkers. Is this a purely anecdotal coincidence? Or could there be something in it? Could — whisper it — these drugs work for people who struggle with problematic drinking? With alcohol addiction? Professor Colin O’Gara, clinical psychiatrist and head of addiction services at Dublin’s St John of God Hospital, believes so.
He says that the Ozempic / semaglutide category of medication “has been showing some promise” in treating people with alcohol dependency. “I think they will be mainstream in addiction treatment in time,” he says. “I think Ozempic and the GL1 agonists are a drug category that will, going forward, be useful in the treatment of addiction.
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