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A box of Ozempic made by Novo Nordisk is seen at a pharmacy in London, Britain March 8, 2024.

Novo Nordisk 's blockbuster diabetes drug Ozempic may decrease the risk of opioid overdoses in certain patients, demonstrating its potential as an alternative treatment for opioid use disorder, according to a new study released Wednesday.

The active ingredient in Ozempic, semaglutide, was associated with a "significantly lower" opioid overdose risk than other diabetes medications in people diagnosed with both Type 2 diabetes and opioid use disorder, said the paper published in JAMA Network Open.

The results suggest that Ozempic could offer potential as a tool for addressing the ongoing U.S. opioid epidemic, which was declared a public health emergency in 2017. There are currently three effective medications to prevent overdoses from opioid use disorder, but a new alternative is needed because some patients simply don't use them, said lead study co-author Dr. Rong Xu, a biomedical informatics professor at Case Western Reserve University.

In 2022, only about a quarter of patients with opioid use disorder received recommended medications for it, and many discontinued treatment within six months, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The National Center for Drug Abuse Statistics says opioids are a factor in around 72% of overdose deaths in the U.S.

The study results also add to mounting evidence that a highly popular class of diabetes and obesity treatments called GLP-1s may have several health benefits beyond regulating blood sugar and promoting weight loss. Novo Nordisk, its rival Eli Lilly and independent researchers have been racing to study those drugs' potential in patients with chronic conditions ranging from kidney disease and sleep apnea to addictive behaviors such as nicotine and alcohol use.

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