A drug initially developed to treat type 2 diabetes and aid weight loss has shown a surprising effect in laboratory studies: a significant reduction in alcohol consumption and relapse-like behaviors in rats, and mice. The active ingredient, tirzepatide, found in the medication Mounjaro, is the focus of research published this week in the journal eBioMedicine.
Researchers at the University of Gothenburg in Sweden, who previously demonstrated similar effects with semaglutide – the active ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy – found that voluntary alcohol intake decreased by more than half in animals treated with tirzepatide. Critically, the drug likewise appeared to prevent relapse-like drinking patterns, with animals not increasing their alcohol consumption after a period of abstinence, but rather exhibiting a decrease compared to previous levels.
“We observed clear and robust reductions in long-term alcohol consumption, binge-like drinking, and relapse-like drinking in both male and female animals,” said Christian Edvardsson, a doctoral student in pharmacology at the Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg. “What makes this study particularly compelling is that it also provides new insight into how this class of drugs may influence the brain’s reward system.”
Tirzepatide is unique as the first medication to act as a dual agonist at receptors for the satiety hormones GIP and GLP-1. Its established safety profile, due to its current use in treating type 2 diabetes, could expedite further research into its potential application in addressing alcohol use disorder, researchers suggest.
The study revealed that tirzepatide attenuates the effects of alcohol on dopamine, a crucial neurotransmitter within the brain’s reward system that reinforces addictive behaviors. This effect appears to be linked to activity in the lateral septum, a brain region associated with motivation, reward, and relapse in both animal models and humans. Researchers also identified alterations in histone-related proteins within the lateral septum, which influence gene expression and have been previously linked to substance use and addiction. However, the study emphasizes that these changes are observed *in conjunction* with reduced alcohol consumption, and do not necessarily *cause* it.
Elisabet Jerlhag Holm, Professor of Pharmacology at the Sahlgrenska Academy, cautioned that the findings do not represent an immediate new treatment for alcohol use disorder. “But the findings reinforce the view that drugs targeting these neural systems may be relevant to investigate further as potential treatment options,” she stated.
The research was a collaborative effort between the University of Gothenburg and the Medical University of South Carolina. Eli Lilly, the pharmaceutical company behind Mounjaro, is currently recruiting participants for two large clinical studies to evaluate tirzepatide’s efficacy in patients with alcohol dependence, according to reports.
