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From offering a viable solution to the obesity epidemic and its comorbidities to reducing demand for ResMed’s continuous positive airway pressure (PAP) therapy devices used to treat symptoms of sleep apnea, it’s not surprising that GLP-1 drugs currently constitute one of Wall Street’s biggest thematic investment ideas of the decade.Still, researchers continue to find new use cases for these miracle drugs, with the latest discoveries centered around controlling alcoholism.
Introduction to GLP-1 Drugs
The GLP-1 hormone suppresses hunger and regulates insulin and glucose production. After a meal, the hormone increases insulin levels and lowers blood sugar. At the same time, it slows down the emptying of stomach contents into the small intestine, creating feelings of fullness and satisfaction in the process. Although originally promoted as treatments for diabetes, many drugs that use GLP-1 agonists are now marketed as anti-obesity medications.
Estimated global weight loss drug sales:
2030: $93.8 billion
2029: $77.9 billion
2028: $63.7 billion
2027: $48.6 billion
2026: $35.4 billion
2025: $24.6 billion
2024: $14.8 billion
2023: $6.3 billionSource: Bloomberg Intelligence
— Jon Erlichman (@JonErlichman) June 22, 2024
Novo Nordisk uses semaglutide as its own GLP-1 agonist in medicines sold under the labels Ozempic and Wegovy, the former marketed for type 2 diabetes and the latter as an obesity treatment.
Novo Nordisk is currently developing a number of GLP-1 drugs, including ingestible ones and ones that utilize both GLP-1 and amylin agonists to offer better efficacy, but Wegovy and Ozempic remain the company’s main offerings for the treatment of obesity and diabetes.
New study: Semaglutide GLP-1 agonist can significantly reduce alcohol intake
1/ GLP-1 helps you quit alcohol! 🍻
(If you’re a vervet monkey 🐒…for now)Effects of the glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist semaglutide on alcohol intake in alcohol-preferring male vervet monkeys
Average daily alcohol intake (g/kg/4 hours) at 6 weeks… pic.twitter.com/cNHcZl5fmO
— BowTiedBiotech 🧪🔬🧬 (@BowTiedBiotech) June 22, 2024
This is the crux of the matter. Given the effectiveness of GLP-1 agonists in reducing nicotine addiction, one group of researchers recently sought to investigate the efficacy of this hormone. Controlling alcohol intake.
The researchers randomly selected groups of male vervet monkeys to receive “escalating doses” of the GLP-1 agonist semaglutide (up to 0.05mg/kg) or a placebo twice weekly injections for two weeks. The monkeys were allowed to drink alcohol for 10 days before treatment began, but no alcohol was allowed during the two-week treatment period. The researchers then reintroduced alcohol access for 20 working days, while continuing to administer semaglutide or placebo twice weekly.
The results of the study showed that monkeys given semaglutide drank significantly less alcohol compared to the control group after the study’s two-week abstinence period.
Of course, this study focused only on our mammalian relatives, and GLP-1 agonists may not be as effective at curbing alcoholism in humans, but it does open up new vectors for researchers to explore.