Social Media as Pharmacovigilance: The Potential for Patient Reports to Inform Clinical Research on Glucagon-Like Peptide 1 (GLP-1) Receptor Agonists for Substance Use Disorders.

Abstract

The surge in popularity of semaglutide (Ozempic, Wegovy, Rybelsus) and other glucagon-like-peptide 1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists has been accompanied by widespread reports of unintended reductions in alcohol use (and other addictive behaviors) during treatment. With clinical trials of GLP-1 receptor agonists for substance use only recently under way, anecdotal reports (including via social media) are now a primary reason for interest in potential effects of GLP-1 receptor agonists on alcohol use in patient populations. The nature and volume of these reports raises the prospect that social media data can potentially be leveraged to inform the study of novel addiction treatments and the prioritization of behavioral or neurobiological targets for mechanistic research. This approach, which aligns with recent efforts to apply social media data to pharmacovigilance, may be particularly relevant for drug repurposing efforts. This possibility is illustrated by a thematic analysis of anonymous online reports concerning changes in alcohol use or alcohol-related effects during treatment with GLP-1 receptor agonists. These reports not only support the rationale for clinical trials but also point to potential neurobehavioral mechanisms (e.g., satiety, craving/preoccupation, aversion, altered subjective response) that might inform hypotheses for human laboratory and neuroscience studies. Refined methods for capturing patient reports of incidental medication effects on addictive behaviors at large scale could potentially lead to novel, pharmacovigilance-based approaches to identify candidate therapies for drug repurposing efforts.