Ozempic could assist handle opioid dependancy: examine

Sufferers on semaglutide, the important thing ingredient in Novo’s diabetes drug Ozempic and the weight-loss shot Wegovy, had been lower than half as more likely to overdose as these on insulin, based on the examine printed Wednesday in JAMA Community Open. These taking semaglutide had been 63% much less more likely to overdose than these taking DPP-4 inhibitors, a extensively used kind of diabetes capsule. 

The lower was outstanding, stated Rong Xu, a professor of biomedical informatics at Case Western Reserve College, who led the examine. Her staff had beforehand linked semaglutide to a discount in each alcohol use dysfunction and smoking. That is the primary time a examine of this measurement has checked out opioid overdoses, Xu stated. 

As use of highly effective new weight-loss medication spreads, curiosity is rising in whether or not the medicines can blunt not simply urge for food but additionally cravings for different substances. Whereas drugmakers have been reluctant to dive into the realm, Novo is taking a look at alcohol consumption in a trial that began this 12 months. 

The Case Western examine used medical data to create a database of sufferers with comparable traits and adopted them for a 12 months to see in the event that they wanted medical look after an overdose. It included folks with an opioid use dysfunction, with out having the ability to alter for whether or not they had been lively addicts, Xu stated. All of the sufferers additionally had kind 2 diabetes, and about two-thirds had weight problems.

The diminished danger with semaglutide held true in comparison with most different diabetes drug sorts, together with older medicines that work in an identical strategy to Ozempic, apart from Eli Lilly & Co.’s Trulicity. The researchers didn’t examine the Novo medication with Lilly’s newer diabetes shot, Mounjaro.