A major study of U.S. military veterans reveals that diabetes drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro may help prevent new addictions and reduce existing substance abuse problems. The medications showed effectiveness against various substances including alcohol, cocaine, opioids, and nicotine.
Diabetes medications including Ozempic and Mounjaro may offer unexpected benefits in combating addiction, according to groundbreaking research published March 4 involving U.S. military veterans.
Scientists discovered that GLP-1 medications used to treat diabetes demonstrated protective effects against multiple addictive substances, ranging from alcohol and nicotine to cocaine and opioids. This broad impact surprised researchers who typically see treatments targeting specific substances.
“That breadth was quite a surprise,” stated Dr. Ziyad Al-Aly from the VA Saint Louis Health Care System in Missouri, the study’s lead researcher published in The BMJ. “In addiction medicine, there’s not a single drug that works across all these substances.”
Researchers analyzed Veterans Affairs medical records, examining patients with type 2 diabetes who received either GLP-1 medications (including Eli Lilly’s Trulicity and Mounjaro, plus Novo Nordisk’s Victoza and Ozempic) or alternative diabetes drugs called SGLT-2 inhibitors (such as Jardiance and Farxiga). Most participants used standard diabetes doses rather than higher obesity-treatment formulations.
Among 124,001 veterans without prior substance abuse history taking GLP-1 drugs, researchers found 14% reduced likelihood of developing addiction disorders over three years compared to 400,816 similar patients using SGLT-2 medications.
The protective effects varied by substance: alcohol use disorders decreased by 18%, cannabis problems by 14%, cocaine use by 20%, nicotine addiction by 26%, and opioid abuse by 25%.
For 81,617 veterans already struggling with addiction, GLP-1 medications produced even more dramatic results. Emergency room visits related to substance abuse dropped 31% over three years, hospital stays decreased 26%, addiction-related deaths fell 50%, overdoses declined 39%, and suicidal thoughts or attempts reduced by 25%.
Traditional addiction treatment follows substance-specific approaches, Al-Aly explained. Doctors typically prescribe “the antidote for substance A, such as a nicotine patch for tobacco, or naltrexone for alcohol,” he said.
“But here, you have this drug that is working across all addictive substances,” Al-Aly continued. “That’s telling us that there is likely a common biologic pathway that is driving all of these addictions that is indeed druggable or treatable by GLP-1.”
The medications likely target brain receptors located in the mesolimbic system, which controls motivation and reward responses. Al-Aly believes GLP-1 drugs work to “put the lid on cravings” by reducing brain signals that drive people toward excessive consumption of food or drugs.
Important questions remain unanswered, including whether benefits continue after years of treatment or if the brain eventually adapts and reduces the medications’ effectiveness.
“We’re very interested in fleshing this out and trying to understand this concept a little bit more,” Al-Aly noted.
The Veterans Affairs system plans to conduct a comprehensive clinical trial testing semaglutide (the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy) specifically for veterans battling alcohol addiction.
Fares Qeadan from Loyola University in Chicago, writing in an accompanying editorial, advised against waiting for a single “magic bullet” solution.
“These results suggest that when GLP-1 receptor agonists are clinically indicated for cardiometabolic reasons, potential benefits for substance related outcomes may be an added consideration in shared decision making,” Qeadan wrote.