We are grateful to Marcel Mettlen and Abhijit Bugde (UTSW) for microscopy training
Semaglutide works by mimicking a hormone called glucagon-like peptide 1 (GLP-1), which sends signals to the part of the brain that regulates appetite and food intake
A 2024 study led by Wang, Volkow, and colleagues examined two cohorts totaling over 682,000 individuals with either obesity or type 2 diabetes and found the risk of new alcohol use disorder diagnoses was about 50% lower among those taking semaglutide compared to other anti-obesity or diabetes medications (Wang et al., 2024a)
The pharmaceutical companies that developed these drugs spent years working out the eventual FDA-approved doses of their active ingredients (semaglutide for Ozempic and Wegovy
Alternatively, others like dulaglutide (Trulicity) are administered once a week
Knudsen acknowledges that she was one of many researchers who contributed to GLP-1 drugs becoming the juggernauts they are today