Ozempic can flatten butts and maybe extinguish them too!
Taking Ozempic or its sister drug Wegovy may help some smokers kick the habit, new research suggests.
The study compares the effects of eight antidiabetes medications — including injectable insulin, semaglutide (the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy) and drugs similar to Ozempic — on nicotine dependence. An estimated 28 million American adults smoke cigarettes, the leading cause of lung cancer worldwide.
Researchers tracked nearly 223,000 new users of antidiabetes medications — including about 6,000 semaglutide patients — and noted who sought medical care for tobacco addiction, who was prescribed medication to try to quit and who received counseling for it.
Semaglutide was associated with a lower risk for needing help with tobacco cravings versus other antidiabetes treatments, especially insulin.
The semaglutide effects were observed in obese and non-obese smokers. Results were seen primarily within 30 days of starting the semaglutide prescription.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved Ozempic in 2017 to treat Type 2 diabetes in adults and Wegovy in 2021 for adult weight loss.
Type 2 diabetes — which affects more than 34 million Americans — occurs when the body doesn’t produce enough insulin or doesn’t use insulin well, resulting in high blood sugar.
This new study, conducted by researchers from the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health and Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, was published Monday in the Annals of Internal Medicine.
The study authors caution that while their findings are promising, semaglutide should not be used off-label for tobacco addiction. Further studies are needed.
The researchers are unsure exactly why Ozempic might affect nicotine dependence, but they think it could be the drug interacting with the brain’s reward system.
Research has proposed that Ozempic may ease alcohol addiction as well.
The injectable drug — which mimics the GLP-1 hormone the body produces after eating, so users feel fuller for longer — has exploded in popularity in recent years.
One diabetes research pioneer, whose work paved the way for Ozempic, recently predicted GLP-1 drugs eventually may help treat dependence-related behaviors and even Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s disease.
Novo Nordisk — the Danish pharmaceutical firm that makes Ozempic and Wegovy — said its products should only be used for FDA-approved means.
“While our clinical studies have not been designed to assess the ability of semaglutide on tobacco use disorder (TUD) or other addiction-related illnesses, data from nonclinical, clinical, and post-marketing sources have not shown any evidence indicating a causal relationship between semaglutide and TUD or addiction-related illnesses,” the company said in a Monday statement to The Post.
