Ozempic and Wegovi reduce risk of these 10 types of cancer

In the study, researchers looked at 13 types of cancer that are associated with obesity.

People taking semaglutide were found to have a lower risk of developing 10 types of cancer that are associated with obesity. These cancers included: Esophageal, colonendometrial cancer, gallbladder cancer, kidney cancer, liver cancer, ovarian cancer, pancreatic cancer, and more. Meningioma and multiple myeloma.

However, semaglutide was not associated with a significant reduction in the risk of developing the disease. Thyroid, stomachor breast cancer.

Yoni Resnick, PharmDdirector of pharmacy clinical services at New England Oncologists, said the results are encouraging.

“What's really exciting about these drugs is that they may potentially reduce the risk of some cancers that have historically been statistically associated with obesity,” Resnick said.

The study, based on medical data from 1,651,452 patients over a 13-year period, compared patients with type 2 diabetes who were prescribed GLP-1, insulin, or metformin.

Jenny Stanford We are only just beginning to understand how GLP-1 drugs affect health, said Dr. S., an IntelliHealth bariatric physician who previously worked at the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center system.

“I think we're just at the tip of the iceberg in understanding the benefits of GLP-1 receptor agonists,” Stanford says. “Learning more about their effects may open up new possibilities for their use in dementia, obesity-related cancers, and other medical problems that involve the same underlying mechanisms.”

One of the study's authors, Lindsay Wang, a student in the Centre for Science, Health and Society, said: Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio, said people using semaglutide do not have a lower risk of all obesity-related cancers.

“Most notable is [of] Significant risks in most regions Digestive tract cancer“This is very interesting because these cancers usually have a poor prognosis after diagnosis,” Wang said. “What surprised me a little bit was the use of these GLP-1 RAs and [receptor agonists] And your Breast Cancer RiskThis was the opposite of what we initially expected.”

The research team found that compared with patients taking insulin, type 2 diabetes patients taking GLP-1 drugs had a lower risk of several cancers, including:

• 65% reduction in risk of gallbladder cancer
• 63% reduction in meningioma risk
• Pancreatic cancer risk reduced by 59%
• 53% risk reduction Liver cancer It is called hepatocellular carcinoma.
• 48% reduction in ovarian cancer risk
• 46% reduction in colon cancer risk
• 41% reduction in risk of multiple myeloma
• 40% reduction in risk of esophageal cancer
• 26% risk reduction Endometrial cancer
• 24% risk reduction Kidney cancer.

The research team concluded that further research, including preclinical and clinical trials, is needed to further develop these findings.

Dr. Stanford says one of the findings that jumped out to her was the reduced risk of gallbladder cancer.

“We know that obesity is a big factor. Gallbladder disease“When you think about gallstones and gallbladder function, it makes sense that something similar would happen with gallbladder cancer,” Stanford said.

Wang, the undergraduate student, said her research group at Case Western University in Ohio is currently studying GLP-1 agonists and their role in cancer outcomes.

Resnick said these findings, if confirmed in further studies, could mean changes for high-risk groups in his oncology practice, and that these GLP-1 drugs are becoming a more common topic of conversation among oncologists.

“We can leverage this kind of data that shows obesity is directly related to cancer in this group,” Resnick says, “and by offering this type of weight loss medication versus other types of medications, we can reduce cancer risk, improve the overall health of the population, and reduce health care costs, which are all well-known topics.”

A new study published in the Journal of Clinical Oncology has found evidence that the use of semaglutide drugs such as Ozempic may help reduce the risk of obesity-related cancers in people with type 2 diabetes.