Scientists are examining whether GLP-1 weight-loss medications, already reshaping treatment for obesity and diabetes, might also affect cancer risk and outcomes.
The American Association for Cancer Research’s 2026 Cancer Progress Report, released earlier this month, identifies obesity as a major risk factor for many cancers. Because GLP-1 drugs — including semaglutides like Ozempic and Wegovy and tirzepatides like Mounjaro and Zepbound — cause substantial weight loss and improve metabolic health, they’ve drawn growing interest from cancer researchers.
The report notes some studies suggest GLP-1 medications may lower the risk of certain cancers, but it stresses the overall evidence is mixed and more research is needed.
“Randomized clinical trials remain the gold standard … however, such trials have not yet been conducted specifically to assess cancer outcomes associated with GLP-1 RA use,” the report states.
Dr. Sai Yendamuri, a thoracic surgeon at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, New York, who was not involved in the AACR report, said obesity is the second-leading cause of cancer after smoking, with alcohol use and poor nutrition also contributing as risk factors layered into obesity.
“So if obesity is related to cancer — both in terms of causing it and increasing its progression — the logical question is, would a drug that decreases obesity have an impact?” Yendamuri said in an interview with Fox News Digital.
He pointed to “many lines of evidence” supporting that idea. Studies of patients who underwent metabolic surgery to reduce obesity found lower rates of cancer afterward. Researchers then turned to patients taking GLP-1 receptor agonists like Ozempic and compared their cancer rates with those not on the drugs.
“Many of those studies found that the risk of cancer was lower and the survival was higher in the patients taking GLP-1s,” Yendamuri said.
Still, not every study agreed. Some found no relationship, and a couple showed an increased risk of specific cancers, such as thyroid cancer. Yendamuri attributed the inconsistency to the retrospective nature of most of this research.
“That is, they look at existing data and they’re trying to derive associations from existing data … but there are many other variables that can impact the result,” he said.
Yendamuri’s own research team has studied the link between obesity and lung cancer specifically.
“We have found in every investigation we’ve done that obesity does increase the risk of lung cancer,” he said.
Findings on surgery and immunotherapy patients
Yendamuri noted that how obesity is measured matters too — many researchers are moving beyond body mass index toward more precise assessments of body fat composition.
He shared two findings from his own work. Among lung cancer patients undergoing surgical resection, those on GLP-1 receptor agonists appeared to have lower recurrence rates. Similarly, patients with advanced-stage cancers receiving immunotherapy who were also taking GLP-1 drugs showed lower recurrence rates.
Based on preclinical lab studies, Yendamuri believes the medications have only a limited direct effect on cancer cells themselves.
“What we think is happening is that it changes the body’s immune response to cancer cells, and thereby improves its ability to fight cancer cells,” he said.
That effect likely varies by cancer type, he said, since immune response plays a bigger role in some cancers, such as melanoma, than others.
Yendamuri acknowledged that weight loss itself probably accounts for at least part of the benefit, though not every patient on GLP-1 drugs loses substantial weight.
“If those patients who have weight loss with GLP-1 receptor agonists have the same cancer benefit as patients who do not have weight loss, that will answer that question,” he said.
Depending on the results of future trials, Yendamuri said he’s hopeful the drugs could eventually be viewed as a tool for cancer prevention.
“More and more, we are realizing that apart from the treatment that you get for cancer, lifestyle modifications — exercise, decreasing weight, and now GLP-1 receptor agonists — will all have a role in both enhancing the treatment of cancer as well as preventing second cancers,” he said.
He also emphasized the importance of continued funding for the National Cancer Institute, which supports researchers working on such discoveries.
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