Ozempic may help diabetes patients quit smoking, study finds

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• A new study found that smokers with type 2 diabetes taking Ozempic had fewer tobacco-related medical encounters compared to those using other diabetes medications.
• The study, based on electronic health records of nearly 229,000 patients, suggests a potential link between Ozempic and reduced tobacco use.
• Reports indicated that semaglutide, the active ingredient in Ozempic, might reduce smoking desire by affecting nicotine's reward effects.

Smokers with type 2 diabetes taking Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic had fewer tobacco-related medical encounters and fewer interventions to help them quit smoking than those who received other diabetes drugs, according to a study of electronic health records published on Monday.

In the year after starting treatment, Ozempic users with a previous diagnosis of tobacco use disorder were up to 32% less likely to discuss tobacco use with a healthcare provider than those taking other diabetes medications. This was true even compared with those taking medicines in the same class, known as GLP-1 receptor agonists, researchers reported in Annals of Internal Medicine.

They were also up to 68% less likely to receive prescriptions for smoking cessation medication and up to 21% less likely to receive smoking cessation counseling.

DIABETES PATIENTS USING OZEMPIC, OTHER TREATMENTS INSTEAD OF INSULIN HAVE LOWER CANCER RISK, STUDY FINDS

The findings were drawn from electronic health record data on nearly 229,000 patients, including 6,000 recipients of Ozempic.

A box of Ozempic made by Novo Nordisk is seen at a pharmacy on March 8, 2024. Smokers with type 2 diabetes taking Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic had fewer tobacco-related medical encounters and fewer interventions to help them quit smoking than those who received other diabetes drugs, according to a study of electronic health records published on Monday. (REUTERS/Hollie Adams/File Photo)

The researchers called for clinical trials to evaluate the potential of the drug’s active ingredient, semaglutide, for use in smoking cessation to backup the findings from this study sponsored by the U.S. National Institutes of Health.

They noted earlier reports have suggested a reduced desire to smoke in patients treated with semaglutide, possibly related to a dampening of addictive nicotine's reward effects in the brain. Novo's wildly popular weight-loss drug Wegovy has the same active ingredient.

The current study did not include data showing whether patients actually stopped or decreased tobacco use after starting on the various drugs.

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While the observed reduction in tobacco disorder-related encounters might suggest reductions in tobacco use or relapses, it "could also reflect other scenarios, such as a reduced willingness to seek help to quit smoking," the researchers acknowledged.

The classes of diabetes drugs looked at in the study included insulins, metformin, DPP-4 inhibitors, SGLT-2 inhibitors, sulfonylureas, thiazolidinediones and other GLP-1's than Ozempic.