Clinical trials

The HASHTAG Study is investigating whether the medicine semaglutide can help adults with cannabis use disorder (CUD) reduce their cannabis use. Participants will be randomly assigned to receive either semaglutide or a placebo. The first 50 participants will have functional brain scans (fMRI) to investigate how the brain responds to cannabis-related cues. The main outcome after 20 weeks is whether semaglutide reduces cannabis use compared to placebo. Changes in brain activity in response to cannabis cues will be explored as a secondary outcome.

Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs), approved for the treatment of type 2 diabetes and obesity, have shown promise as a novel treatment for alcohol use disorder (AUD). This study aims to investigate whether the Glucose-dependent Insulinotropic Polypeptide/GLP-1RA tirzepatide will reduce alcohol consumption in patients with a dual diagnosis of AUD and schizophrenia, a population in dire need of improved treatment options. To further investigate the neurobiological underpinnings of a potential dampening effect on alcohol consumption, functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) brain scans will be applied. The key anticipated outcomes include: * decreased alcohol consumption and * reduced alcohol cue-induced brain activity in the GIP/GLP-1-treated patient group compared with the placebo group. To the best of the investigators knowledge, this has never been examined before.

Alcohol activates reward systems in different brain areas, i.e., the nucleus accumbens, dorsal striatum, extended amygdala, and prefrontal cortex. These areas are all part of the reward neurocircuitry, which plays an important role in the development of addiction. A former study performed on rodents has shown that a specific area of the forebrain, the septal nuclei, is associated with the feeling of reward and, hence, addiction when stimulated. However, whether the septal area is involved in reward and addiction in humans is sparsely investigated. The purpose of this brain-imaging study is to assess how the septal nuclei react to alcohol-related pictures shown to participants diagnosed with alcohol use disorder while lying in an MRI scanner, compared to people without a diagnosis of alcohol use disorder. This might give us a better understanding of how the septal nuclei is involved in reward and addiction.