GLP-1 Drugs Tied to Fewer Addictions, Overdoses in Large Study

Popular drugs for diabetes and obesity were linked to sharply lower rates of addiction and overdose in a large study of US veterans, raising the possibility that the medicines could help curb substance abuse.

In an analysis of electronic health records from more than 600,000 veterans with type 2 diabetes, researchers found that patients who started a GLP-1 receptor agonist — a class that includes Novo Nordisk A/S’s Ozempic and Eli Lilly & Co.’s Mounjaro — were less likely to develop substance use disorders over the next three years than those who started a different diabetes drug, known as an SGLT-2 inhibitor, including Lilly and Boehringer Ingelheim GmbH’s Jardiance.