The drugs everyone calls "weight-loss shots" are getting a second career in research.
Short answer: About a quarter of the GLP-1 drug trials starting in 2025 and 2026 are testing something other than diabetes or weight: addiction, heart disease, cancer, kidneys, PCOS. Fifteen years ago it was closer to 1 in 8. A trial is a question, not an answer, so none of this changes what these drugs are approved for today.
Where this came from
A MACCUS piece making the rounds on Reddit's r/Futurology this week said 1 in 4 new GLP-1 trials now look beyond diabetes and weight, up from 1 in 14. It didn't show its method, so we ran the count ourselves.
What we counted
We searched ClinicalTrials.gov, the US registry where trials are listed, on Nov 6, 2026:
- Which trials: interventional studies (the drug is given and tested) that list a GLP-1-based drug: semaglutide, tirzepatide, liraglutide, dulaglutide, exenatide and newer ones such as retatrutide and orforglipron.
- Which year: the trial's start date, actual or planned.
- "Beyond weight and diabetes": none of the trial's listed conditions mentions diabetes, obesity, overweight, weight, BMI, prediabetes, blood sugar control, or insulin resistance. A heart trial in people with obesity counts as a weight trial here, so our number runs low, not high.
| Trials starting in | GLP-1 trials | Beyond weight and diabetes | Share |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2010 to 2011 | 84 | 10 | 11.9% |
| 2025 to 2026 | 382 | 97 | 25.4% |
Two things grew at once: there are about 4.5 times as many GLP-1 trials, and a bigger slice of them is about something else.
What they're testing
Of the 97 trials starting in 2025 or 2026 that don't list weight or diabetes, the biggest groups are:
- Addiction: 21 (alcohol, opioids, nicotine, cocaine and more)
- Heart and blood vessels: 20
- Cancer: 12
- Kidney disease: 9
- PCOS and fertility: 7
- Liver disease: 6
- Brain conditions such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's: 4
Addiction leading the list is the surprise. Researchers are testing whether the same appetite signals these drugs quiet also turn down cravings for alcohol and other drugs. That's the hypothesis; the trials are how anyone finds out.
What's already approved
Some of this research has already turned into labels. The FDA approved Wegovy to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke in adults with heart disease and obesity or overweight (March 2024), and Zepbound as the first medication for moderate to severe obstructive sleep apnea in adults with obesity (December 2024). Both still sit inside a weight label, which is why the count above leaves them out.
What this does and doesn't mean
- It does mean researchers think these drugs act on more than appetite, and they're putting money behind finding out.
- It doesn't mean a GLP-1 treats addiction, cancer, or anything else on that list. A listed trial is a plan to find out, not a result.
- If you're curious about one of these uses, bring the trial to your clinician rather than a pharmacy. A prescription is a clinician's decision about you, made against the evidence that exists today.
Where Temi fits
Temi's clinicians review prescription requests for the medications you take, GLP-1s and everything else, and decide on the evidence that exists today, not the trial that might change it.
Source: ClinicalTrials.gov registry, interventional studies listing a GLP-1-based drug, counted by Temi on Nov 6, 2026.
