Repurposing semaglutide as an adjunctive treatment for cocaine use disorder: protocol for a randomised controlled trial

What Was Tested

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

Recent advances in addiction science emphasise the need for novel, mechanism-based treatments.

The researchers present a study protocol evaluating semaglutide, as an adjunct to cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), as a novel approach for treating CUD.

Who Took Part

The age groups tagged for this paper are adults and middle-aged adults, both men and women.

This is a randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial enrolling 75 treatment-seeking adults with CUD.

How the Study Was Run

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

The participants were allocated by chance, so the Semaglutide group and the comparison group should start out alike.

Neither the participants nor the staff measuring them knew who was on Semaglutide, so expectations could not easily colour the readings.

The comparison arm used a placebo, so changes seen with Semaglutide could be set against what happens without it.

Primary outcomes include changes in neurophysiological reactivity to drug-related and non-drug-related motivationally relevant cues (late positive potential), behavioural economics (cocaine demand), craving (Cocaine Craving Questionnaire) and cocaine use (self-report, urine drug screens).

Data will be analysed using Bayesian statistical methods using an intention-to-treat approach.

What Was Measured

The researchers present a study protocol evaluating semaglutide, as an adjunct to cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT), as a novel approach for treating CUD.

Topics PubMed links to this paper include Cocaine-Related Disorders, Semaglutide, Cognitive Behavioral Therapy, Randomized Controlled Trials as Topic, Glucagon-Like Peptides, Drug Repositioning and Combined Modality Therapy.

Author keywords: Drug Therapy, Electroencephalography and Substance misuse.

What This Means in Plain Language

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

The publication is from 2026 (BMJ open), a journal based in England.

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