GLP-1 Drugs and Smoking: What Researchers Are Investigating

As researchers learn more about how GLP-1 signaling affects reward and motivation, a natural question has come up: could these medicines help people smoke less or quit? It's a fair question, and a few small trials have now tested it. But as of October 2026, the evidence for quitting is much thinner than the evidence for these medicines' approved uses, and no GLP-1 medicine is approved to help people stop smoking.

Why researchers are curious

Brain systems involved in appetite overlap with systems involved in reward and habit. In animal studies, GLP-1 drugs reduced some of nicotine's rewarding effects. There's also a practical angle: many people worry about weight gain after quitting, and that worry can lead to relapse. A medicine that helps with both would be useful, which is why researchers keep looking.

What have human trials found?

• Exenatide plus nicotine patch (2021 pilot trial): 84 adults who smoked and had prediabetes and/or overweight got a nicotine patch and brief counseling, plus weekly exenatide or placebo, for 6 weeks. About 46% on exenatide were abstinent at the end, versus about 27% on placebo. People on exenatide who quit also gained less weight. It was a small, short pilot, and the statistical uncertainty was wide.
• Semaglutide in people who smoke daily (JAMA Network Open, May 2026): 24 adults who weren't trying to quit were randomized to low-dose semaglutide or placebo for 9 weeks. Semaglutide didn't significantly change the main lab measures of smoking or weekly cigarettes per day, though it did reduce cigarette craving and body weight.
• Semaglutide in alcohol use disorder (JAMA Psychiatry, 2025): in an exploratory analysis of a small alcohol trial, participants who also smoked cut down on cigarettes per day more with semaglutide than with placebo. That wasn't what the study was designed to test.

A 2026 meta-analysis pooled the two randomized trials it could find with quitting outcomes (337 people in total) and found no clear effect on quit rates, rated as very low certainty. It did find less weight gain after quitting with GLP-1 medicines, at low certainty.

What stronger evidence would require

Larger, longer randomized trials that measure sustained abstinence (not just fewer cigarettes), relapse, withdrawal, side effects and differences between groups of people, ideally compared with or added to existing quit-smoking treatments. One person's reduced urge can't estimate how well a medicine works, and observational studies can be skewed by differences between people who do and don't get a prescription.

What if you want to quit now?

That's a great goal, and you don't need to wait for this research. Proven options already exist, including nicotine replacement, prescription quit-smoking medicines and counseling, and combining them improves the odds. Talk with a healthcare professional, or in the US, call 1-800-QUIT-NOW or visit Smokefree.gov for free support. Please don't start, stop or change a GLP-1 medicine to try to quit, and avoid buying these drugs online for unapproved uses.

If you're already taking a GLP-1 medicine, let your care team know about any changes in cravings, mood or behavior. Our article on GLP-1 medicines and mental health covers what's known about mood more broadly.

A useful way to read future results

Check whether a claim comes from animal research, a small human study, a randomized trial or a large real-world study. Look for absolute results (like the percentage of people who quit) and how long follow-up lasted, not just relative percentages. Until better evidence and an approval exist, GLP-1 medicines shouldn't be described as smoking-cessation drugs.

The right conclusion is curiosity with guardrails: this is worth researching, and proven quit support is the practical option today. For a related research area, see GLP-1 medicines and alcohol cravings.