Health
Can Wegovy Fight Alcoholism? For Big Pharma, This Isn’t a Priority
Researchers are pushing the boundaries on a class of drugs that became famous for helping people lose weight. Drugmakers are reluctant to lend support.
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Every week, about two dozen patients come to a small room in Frederiksberg Hospital, a maze of old red-brick buildings in central Copenhagen. They are blindfolded and told to insert earphones with music. Then a nurse injects them with what they hope is the blockbuster weight-loss drug Wegovy.
The patients are trying to shed an addiction, not unwanted pounds. They are volunteers in one of a growing number of studies begun in the US and Denmark this year to see whether Wegovy can treat alcoholism.