About this episode

This episode explores the potential of GLP-1 medications in treating addiction, featuring insights from an addiction medicine expert.

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…

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