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GLP-1RAs for cognitive and mental disorders

Riccardo De Giorgi, Department of Psychiatry, University of Oxford

Tuesday, 20 May 2025, 9.30am to 10.30am

Hosted by Rania Elgarf

Glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs) have been hailed as a major scientific breakthrough by several stakeholders. These medications display neuroprotective/anti-inflammatory and dopamine-regulating activities involved in cognitive, addictive, psychotic, and mood disorder. Industry and most major academic institutions are competing to investigate GLP-1RAs' repurposing potential for all these conditions. 

In this talk, I will report on available pre-clinical and clinical studies about the putative neuropsychiatric effects of GLP-1RAs - whether positive or negative, and consider putative mechanisms of action. I will then present an epidemiological investigation completed within my laboratory about the risk of neurological and psychiatric outcomes in T2DM patients using the GLP-1RAs semaglutide, where we found that the use of this medication may be associated with a lower risk of cognitive deficit and nicotine use disorders. I will discuss how evidence from this study has been used to inform the design of an experimental medicine trial in health volunteers, which assesses the potential neuropsychological bases of its effect, and present our findings across several cognitive domains. 

Finally, I will provide perspectives about the further development of GLP-1RA-based compounds, considering both its promises and pitfalls, including our next working steps in Oxford. 

 

Ricardo De Giorgi is a Clinical Lecturer at the University of Oxford, Department of Psychiatry, and ST6 at Health Education England-Thames Valley, Oxford Health NHS Foundation Trust. He is interested in neuropsychopharmacology and evidence-based treatment of mental illness. He works on evidence synthesis, epidemiological, and experimental medicine studies to investigate repurposing opportunities fro drugs with immune-metabolic activity (e.g., statins, GLP-1RAs) in cognitive and mental disorders. 

 

This seminar is part of the Departmental Seminar Series and is hosted in the Seminar Room and online: