United States: New exploration shows that GLP- 1RAs, which are medicines like Ozempic and Wegovy used for diabetes and weight loss, can greatly lower the chance of getting 10 out of 13 cancers linked to rotundity in people with type 2 diabetes. Just last week, we participated one of the many negative stories about these medicines, which are also called GLP- 1s or GLP- 1Ras.
Positive Findings Amidst Recent Negative News
As mentioned by NEW ALTAS, it appears that the negative news cycle was short-lived, and a new study led by the Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine has added yet another effect to the growing list of the positives that GLP-1Ras can do: reduce the risk of the obesity which is associated cancer.
There are almost thirteen types of cancers have been identified as obesity-associated cancers, few of them are gallbladder, meningioma, pancreatic, liver, ovarian, multiple myeloma and kidney. Obesity and type 2 diabetes also go hand-in hand, and the patients are prescribed GLP-1Ras which includes semaglutide, liraglutide, and dulaglutide.
Study Details
The researchers have also examined the deidentified electronic health records of more than 1.6 million US patients diagnosed with the type 2 diabetes and prescribed GLP-1Ras or another medication who had a medical encounters with the healthcare organisations between March 2005 and November 2018.
Findings
There was no association between GLP-1RAs and postmenopausal breast cancer or thyroid cancer. There was a minimization in risk in relation to stomach cancer (27%), but it was not statistically significant and could be further vary.
As compared with metformin, GLP-1RAs were associated with a decreased risk of colorectal cancer, gallbladder cancer and meningiomas, but it was not statistically significant. However, the researchers found an increased risk of kidney cancer in the GLP-1RA group compared with metformin.
Future Research Needed
“In this study of patients with T2D [type 2 diabetes] who were cancer-free at baseline, taking GLP-1RAs compared with insulin was associated with a lower risk of 10 of 13 OACs,” said the researchers. “The potential cancer-preventative effects of OACs by GLP-1RAs warrant further long-term studies as well as studies of individual newer and possibly more effective antidiabetic and weight loss agents … Studies are also warranted to evaluate the preventive effects of these agents on non-OACs.”
The researchers actually don’t offer a mechanism by which GLP-1Ras exert cancer-inhibiting effects but say that their findings regarding the kidney cancers require further study.