A top Eli Lilly executive says the company is aware of and “closely looking into” anecdotes that patients taking GLP-1 drugs seem to have an easier time quitting alcohol or cigarettes—but proving a genuine impact is easier said than done.
Andrew Adams, Ph.D., senior vice president of genetic medicine and neurodegeneration research, told Fierce Biotech in an interview at this year’s annual Biotechnology Innovation Organization convention that the company has heard reports that some patients taking GLP-1 agonist meds have had a cessation benefit along with treating diabetes and obesity.
“Yes, we’re aware of it, yes, we’re looking closely into that,” he said. “If you could figure out the mechanisms by which that happens, you could potentially extend that with a genetic medicine-type approach.”
Don’t expect the stories to swiftly result in fully-fledged clinical research, however. Adams says that not only are the reports brand new, but it’s difficult to scientifically prove a relationship between the impact of the medication and cessation, given that Mounjaro impacts caloric intake.
“It’s hard to prove that in human studies, because a lot of time you’re filling out surveys and getting patients’ self-report outcomes,” he said. “That’s a tough way to get scientific answers with reasonable variability.” The impact of Novo Nordisk's competing GLP-1 receptor agonist Ozempic on alcohol and smoking desire is being examined in a handful of studies, including one at the University of North Carolina. But neither Novo nor Lilly are testing the hypothesis in their own trials.
But the fact that Lilly isn’t outright dismissing the stories shows how invested the company is in turning over every stone associated with what’s expected to be a multibillion-dollar blockbuster medication. Or, as Adams put it, “whenever anything interesting like that happens with one of the medicines we make, we definitely pay attention.” Mounjaro was approved by the FDA to treat diabetes last year, and, while regulators have not yet extended its label into weight loss, it's being used off-label in that way. The FDA granted fast-track designation for the indication in October 2022.
Lilly more broadly is, as expected, doubling-down on GLP-1 research and roping in the genetic medicine unit to help. One area of consideration is whether there are gene therapies that could modulate the signaling of the GLP-1 system, adjusting the biological dial that could affect people’s sensitivity to Mounjaro. Adams and the team are also thinking about ways Mounjaro could be combined with other therapies that treat comorbidities often associated with the Mounjaro patient group.
Research into these hypotheses is not going to fade anytime soon. Adams says the diabetes team is expected to take up a full floor of the Indianapolis pharma’s $700 million genetic medicine facility in Boston that's under construction and slated to open in 2024.