Small trial finds semaglutide cut drinking in people with alcohol use disorder

The trial

Researchers recruited 48 adults with alcohol use disorder who were not seeking treatment and gave them weekly injections of semaglutide or placebo for nine weeks. Doses stayed at the low end of the range used for diabetes. Nobody was asked to cut down.

The main test was a laboratory session: participants were offered their preferred drink and could drink as much as they liked over a set time. The team also tracked drinking in daily life.

What changed

In the lab session, people on semaglutide drank less alcohol by weight and had lower peak breath-alcohol levels. At home, drinks per drinking day and the number of heavy drinking days fell more than with placebo, while the number of days with any drinking did not clearly differ. Among the smokers in the study, cigarettes per day also fell.

Why it matters, and why to wait

This is one of the first randomised trials of a modern GLP-1 drug for alcohol use. It fits animal studies and health-record analyses that point the same way.

But 48 people over nine weeks is a pilot. The study population was mostly people without severe dependence, the lab session is a stand-in for real life, and effects on long-term outcomes such as liver health were not measured. Larger trials, some with higher doses, are running.

Source Hendershot C. S. et al., JAMA Psychiatry, February 2025 (randomised placebo-controlled trial)

Amino Weekly reports research. It is not medical advice and never gives doses.