Prof Guru Aithal, deputy director of the centre, said the main aim of the investigation was to determine if the drug could reduce patients’ alcohol intake while also helping them lose weight and improve their liver health and quality of life.
To get on the study, NHS patients have to have a body mass index of least 30, have an alcohol use disorder,, external and evidence of scarring of the liver or cirrhosis.
Harmful drinking is the leading cause of liver disease in the UK, and Aithal said the UK “has experienced higher rates of deaths from alcohol-related liver disease compared to other European countries over the past four decades”.
“The combination of alcohol and obesity act together to speed up liver damage and death in patients, and both these conditions are difficult to treat with current medicines and counselling,” he added.
“I hope that we can successfully evidence the impact of weight-loss drugs to curb alcohol intake and demonstrate the cost effectiveness and potential for a new NHS treatment.”
Prof Ashwin Dhanda, a liver medicine specialist at the University of Plymouth, said: “We see patients who are dependent on alcohol and are obese every day, but there is currently no treatment that targets obesity and alcohol use at the same time.”
He added: “We need to seize this opportunity.”
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