Weight loss injections could almost halve the risk of developing obesity-linked cancers, a new study has found. Experts have called the findings transformational, saying these jabs may offer protection and extra benefits other than just weight loss.
The findings were revealed at the European Congress on Obesity (ECO) 2025 conference held in Malaga, Spain, where a group of 54 experts from 12 countries came together to make a joint statement, as per The Guardian. They said that weight loss medicines should be prioritised in future research to determine if they can help prevent cancer.
According to the study, published in The Lancet's eClinicalMedicine, the researchers examined 6,000 people who had never had cancer before. They either had bariatric surgery or used dulaglutide (Trulicity), liraglutide (Saxenda), exenatide (Byetta), or glucagon-like peptide-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1RAs).
The study revealed that people who underwent bariatric surgery lost around twice as much weight as people who took weight-loss drugs. Researchers also said that this surgery reduces the risk of cancer by 30 to 42 per cent.
Researchers believe that these weight loss jabs could bring up a whole new era of preventive cancer treatment.
Professor Dror Dicker from Hasharon Hospital and co-author of the study, said, "New generation, highly potent GLP-1RAs with higher efficacy in weight reduction may convey an even greater advantage in reducing the risk of obesity-related cancers, but future research is needed to make sure these drugs do not increase the risk for non-obesity-related cancers."
Another study, presented at the conference and published in the New England Journal of Medicine, claimed patients who took Mounjaro lost almost 50 per cent more weight than those who took Wegovy.
At the end of the trial, the patients on Mounjaro usually experienced a 20.2 per cent decrease in body weight against those on Wegovy, who experienced a 13.7 per cent fall.
Professor Mark Lawler, an internationally renowned cancer research expert from Queen's University Belfast, said, "While further work is required on how it works, these data raise the intriguing possibility that a GLP-1 jab could prevent multiple cancers in the general population, including common cancers like breast and colorectal, and difficult to treat cancers like pancreatic and ovarian."
The experts from the University of Manchester, supported by Cancer Research UK, are aiming to begin the major clinical trial with tens of thousands of patients within the next three to five years.
