New semaglutide for alcohol use disorder trial shows big drops in drinking

Once-weekly semaglutide versus placebo in patients with alcohol use disorder and comorbid obesity: a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial (Lancet)

Strongly significant reductions in drinking across measures. From the abstract: “Semaglutide showed robust therapeutic effects in treatment-seeking participants with obesity and alcohol use disorder and this trial supports previous preclinical and clinical findings suggesting GLP-1 receptor agonists as a potential novel treatment target for alcohol use disorder.”

Always a challenge with such big placebo effects in alcohol trials, and this trial provided real-human CBT to the placebo and semaglutide groups.

Congratulations to Mette Klausen, Anders Fink-Jensen and the rest of the illustrious team! This is a very important paper.