Weight loss jabs could slow spread of cancer,
Weight-loss injections could slow the spread of certain cancers and improve survival outcomes, promising new research has suggested.
Scientists at the Cleveland Clinic in the US found that patients who started using the jabs after being diagnosed with cancer were able to slow down the spread of the disease.
The effect was most noticeable for those with lung and liver cancers, but the jabs, which include Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro, were shown to also slow the progression of breast and bowel tumours.
The researchers concluded this suggests that the injections, known collectively as GLP-1 drugs, may be protective against seven types of cancer, including prostate, kidney and pancreatic cancers.
Dr Mark Orland, the study’s lead author, said: ‘Our study found that use of GLP-1 drugs… was associated with a meaningful reduction in cancer progression.’
While the team didn’t study the mechanism behind the findings, they believe the drugs – which reduce appetite – may work by reducing inflammation and fat around the tumours, which provide a source of fuel that cancer cells use to grow and spread to other parts of the body.
Experts are now calling for larger trials of the drugs in cancer patients, to provide stronger evidence for their protective effects.
The study included 12,112 patients in the early stages of cancer taking either a weight-loss jab or other diabetes drugs.
Ozempic belongs to a group of drugs called GLP-1 agonists and is typically used to treat type 2 diabetes to help managed blood sugar levels
Experts are now calling for larger trials of the drugs in cancer patients, to provide stronger evidence for their protective effects.
The study included 12,112 patients in the early stages of cancer taking either a weight-loss jab or other diabetes drugs.
The scientists wanted to find out if patients who took GLP-1s were less likely to progress to stage 4 – where the cancer spreads to another organ – than those who took gliptins, a type of diabetes drug.
Stage 4 tumours are usually less responsive to treatment and therefore harder to treat.
Results showed lung, breast, colorectal and liver cancer patients treated with GLP-1s were between 38 and 50 per cent less likely to develop stage four cancer than those on gliptins.
The weight-loss drug also seemed to have a protective effect for prostate, pancreatic and kidney cancers, but the results were not statistically significant.
The study will be presented at the annual meeting of the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) later this month.
Obesity is now overtaking smoking as the leading modifiable risk factor for nearly all cancers- with health care professionals across the board agreeing that losing weight can significantly slash the risk of developing the disease.
A recent study, led by experts at the Institute of Cancer Research, found that excess weight is associated with ten of the 11 cancers rising in young people, including kidney, bowel and pancreatic cancer, with oral cancer being the only exception.
However, cancer patients have been warned against taking ‘quick fix’ weight-loss jabs, unless advised so by specialist doctors.
This is because the drugs, such as Wegovy and Mounjaro, can slow down how quickly other medicines are absorbed by the body, reducing their effect.
Dr Owen Carter, national clinical adviser at Macmillan Cancer Support warned: ‘We know that cancer affects everybody differently and it’s understandable that patients may want to manage their weight before or after treatment for cancer.
‘But we simply do not know enough about the long-term impacts of these weight-loss medications to recommend them if they’re not prescribed by a specialist.’
