Three studies presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology’s annual meeting in Chicago suggest that weight-loss drugs, known as GLP-1 medications, could reduce the risk of developing or dying from breast cancer by up to 30%. The findings add to growing evidence that these drugs, already widely used for obesity and type 2 diabetes, may play a role in cancer prevention and treatment.
The first study, a retrospective analysis of 110,000 women aged 45 to 80, found that those taking GLP-1 medications were 30% less likely to develop breast cancer compared with those not taking the drugs. Dr Elizabeth McDonald of the University of Pennsylvania, who presented the findings, noted that while the study is observational, it supports further investigation into these drugs as cancer prevention tools.
A second study involving 27,000 breast cancer patients, led by the IRCCS Istituto Romagnolo per lo Studio dei Tumori Dino Amadori in Italy, found that adding weight-loss drugs to standard treatment reduced the risk of death by 30%. A third study, led by the Cleveland Clinic and involving 12,000 patients with breast, lung, bowel or liver cancer, found that those on weight-loss drugs were 38% to 50% less likely to develop stage-four disease.
Experts not involved in the research highlighted the drugs’ anti-inflammatory and immune-modulatory properties as potential mechanisms. Dr Eleonora Teplinsky of Valley Health System noted that it remains unclear whether the benefits are due to weight loss alone or other factors, and called for further studies.
