Ozempic Could Reduce Cancer Risk: Everything You Need to Know

Diabetes drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy (both Semaglutide) do more than weight loss, they also may reduce risks of cancer. New research published July 5 in the Journal of the American Medical Association has found that the use of semaglutide medications may help reduce the risk of obesity-associated cancers in people with type 2 diabetes. Previous research has shown that these medications lower the risk of pain related to arthritis and alcohol addiction.

For the study, researchers studied people with 13 types of cancer. In the end, they deducted that those taking semaglutide had up to 65% less risk of developing 10 of these obesity-associated cancers. They included oesophagal, colorectal, endometrial, gallbladder, kidney, liver, ovarian, and pancreatic cancer, plus meningioma and multiple myeloma. However, semaglutide was not linked to a significantly reduced risk of developing thyroid, stomach, or breast cancer.

Yoni Resnick, PharmD, the director of pharmacy clinical services with New England Cancer Specialists, says that these results are encouraging. "It’s exciting to see that, there might be…some smoke as it relates to these medications, potentially reducing the risk of some cancers that have historically been statistically related to obesity,” Resnick said.

The study, which pulled from the medical data of 1,651,452 patients across 13 years, compared those with type 2 diabetes who had been prescribed a GLP-1, insulin, or metformin. Jennie Stanford, MD an obesity medicine physician for InteliHealth, who previously worked within the University of Pittsburgh Medical Centre system, said we're just starting to understand how GLP-1 drugs can impact your health.

One of the study’s authors, Lindsey Wang, a student at the Center for Science, Health, and Society, Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, Cleveland, Ohio said that people using semaglutide did not have a lower risk among all obesity-associated cancers.

"Most notably, we saw a decrease [of] significant risk across most gastrointestinal cancers. So, that goes all the way from your esophagus down to your colon. This is pretty interesting because these cancers usually have a poor prognosis after you are diagnosed with it," Wang said. "Something that did surprise us a little was that we found no association between using these GLP-1 RA’s [receptor agonists] and your breast cancer risk, which was contrary to our initial expectation."

According to the authors of the study, if their findings are confirmed by further research, then they might make a difference in the treatment of high-risk groups of patients. He also says that these GLP-1 medications are becoming a more common talking point among oncologists.

"You can leverage this kind of data that says, obesity is directly associated with…this group of cancers," they said. "By offering this type of weight reduction medication as compared to other types of medications… You’re reducing the risk for cancer, thus improving the overall health of the population, cutting healthcare costs, all of those well-known talking points."

What Is Semaglutide?

Semaglutide is primarily an antidiabetic medication used to treat Type 2 diabetes. While weight loss is one of its side effects, a new study has found that this drug may also lead to significant muscle loss. What is particularly concerning is that up to 40% of the weight lost from semaglutide could be muscle mass. This could result in long-term risks like weakened immunity, higher infection susceptibility, and slower wound healing.