Eli Lilly, the maker of the popular weight loss injection Zepbound, is exploring other ways the drug can help people. In an interview with the Economic Club of Washington, D.C., this week, the company’s CEO, David Ricks, discussed the pharmaceutical giant’s plans for 2025.
“These medicines, we think, and we aim to prove, can be used for other things we don’t think about connected to weight,” Ricks said. “These are often called anti-hedonics, so they are reducing that desire cycle. So, next year you’ll see Lilly start large studies in alcohol abuse, in nicotine use, even in drug abuse.”
Zepbound is a GLP-1 drug. Those drugs work by mimicking hormones that make you feel satisfied after eating.
Researchers have known the mechanism in the brain that regulates food-seeking behaviors. They say it overlaps with the mechanism that regulates why some people develop addiction. However, Ricks said Eli Lilly’s upcoming study will be the first to test the use of these drugs specifically to treat addiction.
Zepbound started out under the name Mounjaro as a treatment for Type 2 diabetes. Eli Lilly later discovered patients could use Mounjaro’s active ingredient, tirzepatide, as an off-label prescription to encourage weight loss.
Shortly after, the Food and Drug Administration approved a version for weight loss purposes under the name Zepbound.
A new study by Loyola University released this week in the journal “Addiction,” found GLP-1 drugs show promise for treating drug and alcohol addiction.
Researchers found people addicted to alcohol who also had a prescription for a GLP-1 drug had a 50% lower rate of binging alcohol. They also discovered people with opioid use disorder had a 40% lower rate of overdose.
