Efficacy of the GLP-1 receptor agonist, semaglutide, in abstinence from illicit and nonprescribed opioids in an outpatient population with OUD: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial protocol

What Was Tested

The paper reports a study of Semaglutide, published as a clinical study.

That said, people who continue to use non-prescribed opioids despite treatment with MOUD are at greater risk for high attrition and OUD-related harms.

Registered 12 August 2024, https://clinicaltrials.gov/study/NCT06548490.

Who Took Part

According to the abstract, 200 participants were involved.

By PubMed's age tags, the people studied were adults, both men and women.

Outcomes include the probability of participants being abstinent from illicit and nonprescribed opioids, as well as measures of craving and days of drug use.

Measures will be evaluated using urine toxicology screens and self-report assessments across 19 weeks during a screening visit (Study Week 1), 12 treatment visits (Study Weeks 2-13), a washout visit (Study Week 14), and a final follow-up visit (Study Week 19).

How the Study Was Run

The researchers set it up as a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled and multicenter study.

Because people in this Semaglutide study were split into groups at random, differences between the groups are less likely to reflect who happened to join each one.

Blinding on both sides kept the participants and researchers unaware of who received Semaglutide.

A placebo (an inactive look-alike) gave the Semaglutide group a baseline to be compared against.

Running at several centres spread the Semaglutide study over different clinics and patient groups.

What Was Measured

PubMed files the paper under topics including Analgesics, Opioid, Craving, Glucagon-Like Peptide-1 Receptor Agonists, Glucagon-Like Peptides, Opioid-Related Disorders, Outpatients and Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic.

Author keywords: Ecological momentary assessment (EMA), GLP-1RA, Opioid use disorder (OUD), Semaglutide and Substance use disorder (SUD).

What This Means in Plain Language

The paper is a randomized, double-blind and placebo-controlled study of Semaglutide in 200 participants.

Its findings take up roughly 2 sentences of the abstract and are left out here on purpose; the source paper is the place to read them.

The publication is from 2025 (Addiction science & clinical practice), a journal based in England.

More context: the Semaglutide compound page, all human trials.