Aspirin for colorectal cancer prevention: Current use and its limitations | 2026 ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposium

In this first segment of an interview with Managed Healthcare Executive, Colton Jones, M.D., of The University of Texas San Antonio, thumbnails the current use of aspirin for colorectal cancer prevention. Jones presented the results of a retrospective study at the ASCO Gastrointestinal Cancers Symposiumm, held Jan. 8-10 in San Francisco , that showed that GLP-1s were 36% more effective than aspirin in lowering colorectal incidence. Jones also presented research that showed that GLP-1s were associated with a 53% decrease in 10-year all-cause mortality among patients with colorectal cancer. In this segment of the interview, Jones notes the use of aspirin for colorectal cancer prevention is largely limited to people with a heightened risk of developing colorectal cancer, a group that includes people with Lynch syndrome and with familial adenomatous polyposis. "We don't have any great medications out there, approved by the FDA, for primary prevention of colorectal cancer," Jones said.

People do take aspirin for cardiovascular prevention, noted Jones. The United States Preventive Services Task Force’s current recommendation is that the decision to start low-dose aspirin use for the primary prevention of cardiovascular be an individual one for adults ages 40 to 59 years who have a 10% or greater 10-year CVD risk. The task forces 2022 recommendation says that the evidence indicates that the “net benefit of aspirin use in this group is small.”

Jones said there is evidence that people who take aspirin for cardiovascular disease prevention get some protection from colorectal cancer as a secondary benefit.