(Bloomberg) -- Eli Lilly & Co. will begin studies to see if its blockbuster weight-loss medicines are also effective at controlling addictive behaviors like alcohol abuse, smoking and drug addiction, Chief Executive Officer Dave Ricks said.
The drugs are “anti-hedonics,” Ricks said Tuesday during an interview with David Rubenstein at a meeting of the Economics Club in Washington, DC, and may offer patients respite from their dependence. Some doctors already swear by the shots to help ease cravings, and Lilly’s rival Novo Nordisk A/S said earlier this year that it was planning a study that will look at whether its weight-loss drugs can change daily alcohol consumption.
“These medicines can be useful for other things we don’t think about connected to weight,” Ricks said. “They’re reducing that desire cycle. So next year, you’ll see Lilly start large studies in alcohol abuse and nicotine use, even in drug abuse.”
Ricks also addressed the imbalance in drug prices between the US and other countries, saying that patients abroad should be paying more for their medicines. That’s an argument previously floated by President-elect Donald Trump during his first administration and will likely come back, Ricks said.
To see the full interview with Ricks, watch The David Rubenstein Show: Peer to Peer Conversations on Jan. 8 at 9:00 pm in New York on Bloomberg Television.
(Corrects reference to Novo alcohol use study in second paragraph of story published Dec. 10.)
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