Weight Loss Drugs Cancer Risk

TITLE: Research shows weight-loss drugs may also reduce cancer risk CHANNEL: PBS NewsHour DATE: ---TRANSCRIPT--- H SUGGESTS POPULAR WEIGHT-LOSS DRUGS LIKE OZEMPIC AND WEGOVY MAY ALSO HELP TREAT OR PREVENT CERTAIN CANCERS. IT’S THE LATEST UNEXPECTED BENEFIT TO BE ASSOCIATED WITH GLP1’S, WHICH ARE NOW TAKEN BY 1 IN 8 AMERICAN ADULTS. WILLIAM BRANGHAM HAS MORE. WILLIAM: THE RESULTS COME FROM OBSERVATIONAL STUDIES AND RESEARCHERS SAY THERE ARE OPEN QUESTIONS. THAT SAID, THIS WAS THE HOT TOPIC AT A RECENT CONFERENCE OF AMERICA’S TOP CANCER DOCTORS WERE A NUMBER OF OBSERVATIONS POINTED IN THE SAME DIRECTION, THAT GLP-1’S APPEARED TO HELP FIGHT CANCER ABOVE AND BEYOND THE BENEFITS OF WEIGHT LOSS ALONE. TO UNDERSTAND THE IMPLICATIONS AND THE LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDIES, WE TURN TO THE DIRECTOR OF BREAST ONCOLOGY AND CANCER SURVIVORSHIP AT THE WINSHIP CANCER INSTITUTE AT EMORY UNIVERSITY. THERE IS THIS GIRL HE OF OBSERVATIONAL EVIDENCE THAT GLP-1’S DO SEEM TO HELP WITH REGARD TO CANCER. BIG PICTURE, WHAT HAVE THOSE STUDIES FOUND?

WELL, THANKS FOR HAVING ME. I THINK THIS IS REALLY EXCITING AND IMPORTANT DATA. WE’VE KNOWN FOR A VERY LONG TIME THAT OBESITY IS ASSOCIATED WITH AN INCREASED RISK OF AT LEAST 13 DIFFERENT CANCERS, POSSIBLY 20 DIFFERENT CANCERS SO REVERSING OBESITY HAS BEEN A CARE — KEY AREA OF RESEARCH. THESE STUDIES IDENTIFY AN INTERESTING HYPOTHESIS OR THEORY BUT THE DATA SUPPORT THE IDEA THAT THE WEIGHT LOSS CAN HELP TO NOT ONLY PREVENT THE OBESITY RELATED CANCERS, BUT CAN HELP TO PREVENT A RECURRENCE OF SOME OF THE CANCERS EVEN AFTER CANCER DIAGNOSIS. WILLIAM: IT IS QUITE STRIKING. I WANT TO READ SOME OF THE DETAILS. ONE ANALYSIS FROM THE UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA FOUND WOMEN BETWEEN THE AGES OF 45 AND 80 TAKING THESE DRUGS WERE ABOUT 30% LESS LIKELY TO DEVELOP BREAST CANCER AND ANOTHER SURVEY FOUND GLP-1’S SIGNIFICANTLY REDUCED THE RISK OF SPREAD IN FOUR OF THEM, LONG, BREAST, COLON, AND LIVER CANCERS. DO YOU BELIEVE THIS IS PRINCIPALLY A FUNCTION OF WEIGHT LOSS BEING THE REAL ACTOR HERE? I DO. IT HAS BEEN CLEAR FROM PRIOR STUDIES WHERE WE’VE USED METHODS LIKE DIET OR EXERCISE WHICH REDUCE LOBAR AMOUNTS OF WEIGHT LOSS BUT EVEN AT THOSE LOWER LEVELS OF WEIGHT LOSS WE SEE SOME REDUCTION, NOT AS PROFOUND AS WHAT YOU HAVE JUST READ, BUT WE SEE SOME REDUCTION IN THE RISK OF OBESITY RELATED CANCERS WE KNOW STUDIES THAT LOOK AT LARGER WEIGHT-LOSS PROCEDURES LIKE BARIATRIC SURGERY IS THE MORE WEIGHT LOSS WE CAN INDUCE IN PEOPLE WHO ARE STRUGGLING WITH OBESITY, THE LOWER THE RISK OF DEVELOPING CANCER OR CANCER RECURRENCE SO IT IS NOT SURPRISING THAT WHEN WE LOOK AT THESE LARGE OBSERVATIONAL DATA SETS A GLP-1 RECEPTOR AGONIST WHICH CAN REDUCE 50% OR 20% GREATER WEIGHT LOSS SIMILAR TO WHAT BARIATRIC SURGERIES DO, THAT THESE DRUGS CAN ALSO REDUCE THE RISK OF CANCER AND IT DOES SEEM IT IS PRIMARILY THROUGH THE WEIGHT LOSS FUNCTION. WE ALSO KNOW THAT GLP-1’S HAVE ANTI-INFLAMMATORY EFFECTS AS WELL AND WE ARE LEARNING ABOUT POSSIBLE IMMUNE-RELATED EFFECTS AS WELL. IT IS REALLY DRIVEN THROUGH THE LARGE AMOUNTS OF WEIGHT LOSS THAT THE DRUGS CAN INDUCE AS OPPOSED TO PRIOR OR OTHER DIABETES DRUGS AND THAT IS WHERE THEY ARE LIKELY TO SEE SUCCESS. IN CANCER RISK REDUCTION. WILLIAM: LET’S SAY THE STUDIES DO GO FORWARD, HOW MUCH OF A SHIFT WITH THIS BE IN YOUR FIELD OF CANCER AND ONCOLOGY? I THINK WE ARE STANDING REALLY AT THE PRECIPICE OF A MASSIVE POSSIBLE SHIFT IN OBESITY RELATED CANCERS. WE KNOW THAT ONE IN SEVEN MALE CANCER-RELATED DEATHS AND ONE IN SIX FEMALE CANCER-RELATED DEATHS ARE RELATED TO OBESITY. IF WE CAN REDUCE THE OBESITY PROBLEM WHICH WE KNOW WE CAN DO, THIS REALLY STANDS TO REMARKABLY SHIFT THE GLOBAL BURDEN OF OBESITY RELATED CANCERS BUT WE HAVE TO DO THIS CAUTIOUSLY BECAUSE THERE ARE MIXED DATA FOR THE EFFECTS OF INTERACTIVE TYPES OF CANCER THERAPY IS, THIS IS WHY IT IS SO ESSENTIAL THAT WE CONTINUE STUDYING THESE DRUGS IN A PROSPECTIVE, RIGOROUS WAY SO WE CAN OPTIMALLY AND SAFELY USE THEM TO REDUCE CANCER BURDEN. WILLIAM: GIVEN WHAT WE KNOW NOW, YOU ARE A SPECIALIST IN TREATING BREAST CANCER, WITH THE DATA THAT WE HAVE WOULD YOU TELL PEOPLE TO TAKE A GLP-1 FOR CURRENT CANCER PATIENTS OR AS A PREVENTATIVE? I THINK THIS IS A TRICKY QUESTION RIGHT NOW BECAUSE THIS IS WHERE WE HAVE TO RELY ON THE AVAILABLE DATA, WHICH IS OBSERVATIONAL, AS WE HAVE BEEN DISCUSSING, SO WHERE I WORRY IS WE DON’T HAVE DATA ON HOW THE GLP-1’S MAY OR MAY NOT INTERACT WITH CANCER THERAPIES. FOR A PATIENT WHO HAS COMPLETED THEIR CANCER THERAPY AND IF THEY ARE DEALING WITH OBESITY, THIS COULD BE A SUCCESSFUL APPROACH. AND REDUCING THE RISK OF CANCER RECURRENCE DUE TO OBESITY BUT FOR PATIENT CURRENTLY ON TREATMENT, ESPECIALLY CHEMO OR IMMUNE THERAPY IT MAY MAKE IMMUNOTHERAPY LESS EFFECTIVE FOR CANCER TREATMENT, THAT’S REALLY WHERE WE DON’T KNOW ENOUGH TO RECOMMEND A GLP-1. FOR A CANCER SURVIVOR WHO HAS COMPLETED THEIR THERAPY IT IS WORTH HAVING THAT DISCUSSION WITH YOUR DOCTORS ABOUT WHETHER IT IS SAFE TO USE THAT AND IF YOU ARE ON ACTIVE THERAPY, CERTAINLY HAVE THAT CONVERSATION WITH YOUR ONCOLOGIST AND I WOULD CAUTION AGAINST IT UNTIL WE HAVE MORE DATA. WILLIAM: THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR BEING HERE. THANK YOU FOR HAVING ME. ♪