In a new study, patients with 4 types of obesity-related cancer who were taking a GLP-1 medication were significantly less likely to see their cancer progress to stage 4.
A new study suggests GLP-1 medications may slow the spread of certain obesity-related cancers.
Researchers analyzed health data from more than 12,000 people who had one of seven types of cancer at stage I, II, or III.
They compared patients who started taking GLP-1 receptor agonists after their diagnosis with similar patients taking another class of diabetes drugs called gliptins.
The lead author says, “Our study found that use of GLP-1 drugs, compared to …. other antidiabetic drugs, was associated with a meaningful reduction in cancer progression across 4 solid tumor types.”
The strongest results were seen in lung, breast, colorectal, and liver cancer, where patients taking GLP-1 medications were found to be 38% to 50% less likely to progress to stage four or metastatic cancer.
GLP-1 use was also linked to a 33% lower risk of death overall.
The biggest mortality benefit was seen in breast cancer, where the risk of death dropped by 45%.
The anti-inflammatory and immune-related effects of GLP-1s may help explain the findings, according to the authors.
They caution, this was an observational study and cannot prove cause and effect, but say the findings are strong enough to justify future clinical trials.
This research will be presented at the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, taking place May 29 to June 2 in Chicago.
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