"This research marks a significant step forward in our understanding of the potential therapeutic applications of semaglutide in the field of addiction medicine," said the lead author, Dr. Jesse Richards, director of Obesity Medicine and assistant professor of Medicine at OU-TU School of Community Medicine.
Dr. Kyle Simmons, the paper’s senior author and professor of Pharmacology & Physiology at OSU-Center for Health Sciences noted that this case series evidence paves the way for gold-standard placebo-controlled clinical trials such as the one he is currently conducting in Tulsa at the OSU Hardesty Center for Clinical Research and Neuroscience.
Called STAR (Semaglutide Therapy for Alcohol Reduction), the clinical trial is funded by the Hardesty Family Foundation and OSU-CHS. A sister study is also currently underway in Baltimore funded by the National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA).
“This is an example of what can happen when our two R-1 research institutions in Oklahoma collaborate,” said Simmons. “With the publication of this case series in the Journal of Clinical Psychiatry, the stage is set for future clinical trials, such as the STAR studies, which can definitively tell us whether semaglutide is safe and effective for treatment of alcohol use disorder.”
The researchers emphasized the need for further investigation through larger, controlled studies to validate and expand upon these initial findings. Until the results of future placebo-controlled clinical trials are available, the authors believe that healthcare providers should point patients toward established behavioral treatments and medications that have been validated by the FDA for alcohol use disorder.