Now Fat Jabs Could ‘cure’ Cocaine Addictions – As First Ever Treatment For Drug Habit

IT’S not only stubborn fat that weight loss jabs can bust, but cocaine addiction, according to a new study.

Semaglutide, sold under the brand names Ozempic and Wegovy, has taken the slimming scene by storm.

GettySemaglutide was shown to curb cocaine dependency in rats in a new study[/caption]

Now new study findings suggest it’s a candidate to be developed as a treatment for the second most popular illegal drug used in the UK after cannabis – cocaine, according to the Royal College of Psychiatrists (RCPSYCH).

RCPSYCH says that the majority of people who use powder cocaine are not dependent on it, but the risk of this is increasing with availability and purity of the drug.

Men under 30 are the most likely to use it and roughly a third of powder cocaine users are on higher incomes.

Cocaine-related deaths are currently at an all-time high in the UK, with 1,118 in 2023 – ten times higher than in 2011.

The European Drug Agency reports that around 2.7 million young adults (between the age of 15-34) use cocaine regularly, representing around 2.5 per cent of the population in that age group. 

Cocaine use in the UK is the second highest in the world, with around 2.7 per cent of adults using the drug, according to the most recent United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) report.

But there is, to date, no effective pharmacological treatment for problematic cocaine use.

Scientists from the University of Gothenburg in Sweden and the University of Pennsylvania, led by Professor Elisabet Jerlhag (University of Gothenburg), found that semaglutide reduced cocaine-seeking behaviour in rats.

The researchers gave male rats access to directly-injected cocaine, which they could dispense by pressing a lever in the cage.

Then, an experimental group of 10 of these animals were treated with the weight loss drug before being given access to the cocaine dispenser.

Jerlhag said: “We found that in comparison to the control animals, self-administration of cocaine use dropped by 26 per cent in those animals which had been given semaglutide.

“Previous results, both from our group and from other groups, have found that semaglutide can reduce alcohol consumption and craving in both humans and animals, and this work on cocaine seems to reflect these previous findings on alcohol use.

“This is the first trial showing semaglutide’s potential as a drug for cocaine dependence.

“Importantly, we also found that after a period of abstinence, there was a 62 per cent drop in cocaine seeking in those animals which had taken semaglutide and the motivation (work undertaken to attain the drug) was lowered by 52 per cent.”

But Jerlhag said work needs to be confirmed in humans.

She continued: “This is animal work, so at the moment, we can’t say that we have anywhere near a viable treatment for human cocaine dependency.

“We need a bigger study to confirm these results, and then we need to see if the findings also apply to humans.

“However, these results are very promising, underlining the need for human studies, especially since there are no existing pharmacological treatments for cocaine dependency”.

Semaglutide belongs to a class of drugs called GLP-1 inhibitors.

These drugs (along with the similar drug Mounjaro) are now showing promise in the treatment of many other health conditions, including mental health problems.

A recent study also suggested they could improve cardiovascular health by reducing heart attack and stroke risk.

The findings were published in the September edition of the peer-reviewed journal European Neuropsychopharmacology.