in today's Health watch we'll take a look at a new study showing diabetes and weight loss drugs like mongero and OIC may also help patients suffering from addiction CBS News contributor that's Dr slen gounder editor at large for public health at kff Health news is with us with the latest on this a lot of people listening to this saying more good news when it comes to these drugs what did the study show specifically about this so this was a study looking back over almost 10 years of data from patients in over aund Health Systems across
the country so huge data set and what they found is people who had issues with alcohol use disorder we saw a 50% drop in uh incidents of alcohol intoxication where they had to go to the hospital and a 40% drop for people who had opioid use disorder of uh opioid overdose so these are significant clinical impacts for patients so in the future can you see people being prescribed this medication for addiction even if they don't have obesity or diabetes possibly um I think we would need to see some randomized clinical trials over time uh to
prove that this is truly cause and effect uh that's what you would need also for an the FDA to expand the indication which paves the way also for insurance coverage but I think um it's quite possible we see that down the line other than the cost which we keep hearing is astronomical I'm trying to figure out the downside because the research shows it is helped with uh heart health cardiovascular stroke and sleep apnea other than the cost and the cost is outrageous right now what is the downside to taking these drugs well these drugs are
working on the brain and we don't know what the long-term effects of having this kind of hormone of uh impacting your brain would be we don't know what the risks for longterm in the longterm for cancer would be we know that there are risks of pancreatitis gallbladder issues kidney issues uh and there are some reports of uh Suicidal Thoughts so that would be a concern are you surprised at as as a doctor about seeing all that the good these drugs can do does it surprise you yes and no I think it remains to be seen
all right Dr Sing gounder always good to have you here thank you so much
