GLP-1 drugs aren’t just reducing weight — they may also be reducing the chances of developing one of the most common and deadliest cancers for women.
Blockbuster weight loss drugs like Ozempic and Wegovy have been linked to numerous benefits beyond weight loss, such as cutting the risk of obesity-related cancers in half.
And new research has found that women taking a GLP-1 medication are less likely to develop breast cancer.
Accounting for about 30% of all new female cancers annually, breast cancer is expected to affect more than 320,000 people this year.
While treatments are constantly being developed to eradicate the disease, a study from the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine found more evidence that weight loss drugs could be cancer prevention tools.
An analysis of more than 110,000 women between the ages of 45 and 80 — the average age range of breast cancer diagnosis — found that those who took a GLP-1 were 30% less likely to develop the illness.
While the findings don’t definitively link the medications to contributing to lower cancer risk, they do provide enough evidence to start clinical trials to assess whether GLP-1s can be a preventative treatment for high-risk women, such as those with a history.
“GLP-1 medications are intriguing from a cancer research perspective because they weren’t designed for cancer therapy,” study lead and professor of Radiology in the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine, Elizabeth McDonald, said in a press release.
“But they do affect many different targets and pathways associated with cancer development, so we’re eager to study them in this context,” she added.
Maintaining a healthy weight has long been recommended as one way to prevent breast cancer, as obesity is linked to 13 types of cancer, including breast, prostate, uterus, pancreas, colon, kidney and liver.
A study published last year found that people on GLP-1 drugs reduced their risk of 10 of the 13 obesity-associated cancers.
Previous research has also found that they were 41% more effective at preventing obesity-related cancers than bariatric surgery.
Researchers have long thought that inflammation plays a role in how breast cancer tumors develop, which may be inhibited by the metabolic effects of GLP-1s.
This was seen in a study examining the effects of tirzepatide (sold as Mounjaro for diabetes and Zepbound for obesity) in mice, which resulted in about 20% body weight loss and reduced breast cancer tumor size.
While there’s no way to prevent cancer completely, routine screenings are recommended to get a proper diagnosis and treatment as soon as possible.
Further research into drugs like Ozempic and its ilk that are already used by millions could provide another option.
“Ultimately, we want to find better options to prevent breast cancer,” McDonald said. “It’s been encouraging to see the survival rates for breast cancer improve over recent decades, and we’d love to see the same gains in prevention.”
