Diabetes patients on GLP-1s instead of insulin have lower cancer risk, study shows

Patients with type 2 diabetes taking GLP-1 treatments, which include Ozempic, have a lower chance of developing 10 types of obesity-related cancers than those taking insulin and other diabetes drugs, according to a study published on Friday.

GLP-1 treatments for type 2 diabetes have been on the market for nearly 20 years. The newer generation - such as Novo Nordisk’s Ozempic and Eli Lilly’s Mounjaro - are far more effective at controlling blood sugar levels and inducing weight loss. Ozempic was the first of the newer generation in the class to be approved, in 2017.

In the study published on Friday in medical journal JAMA Network Open, researchers examined the medical records of 1.6 million patients with type 2 diabetes who had no prior history of 13 types of obesity-related cancers including gallbladder cancer and kidney cancer.

The study found that the patients treated with a GLP-1 therapy instead of insulin “had a significant risk reduction” in 10 of those cancers.