Season 14 • Episode 1080

Could GLP-1s Help Treat Addiction?

Jul 20, 2026

16:52

Vasculitis Addiction & Recovery Clinical Trials & Research Mental Health Public Health Weight Management

Episode Description

About this episode:

As GLP-1 use surges among U.S. adults for weight loss and diabetes management, researchers are exploring whether these medications could play a role in treating substance use disorders. In this episode: an addiction medicine doctor gives a research update, discusses promising early results, and ponders the larger questions these treatments pose about satiety.

Guest:

Dr. Sarah S. Kawasaki is the director of addiction medicine services at the Pennsylvania Psychiatric Institute and an assistant professor of psychiatry at PennState Health. (Full disclosure: Public Health On Call Host Dr. Josh Sharfstein is the proud brother of Dr. Kawasaki)

Host:

Lindsay Smith Rogers, MA, is the producer of the Public Health On Call podcast, an editor for Expert Insights, and the director of content strategy for the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health.

Show links and related content:

Can Ozempic Cure Addiction?—The New Yorker
Could popular weight loss drugs become the new treatment for addiction? Evidence is starting to mount—CNN
Efficacy of the GLP-1 receptor agonist, semaglutide, in abstinence from illicit and nonprescribed opioids in an outpatient population with OUD: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial protocol—Addiction Science & Clinical Practice

Transcript information:

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