Cancer patients taking GLP-1s less likely to develop advanced disease | ASCO 2026

GLP-1 receptor agonists (GLP-1s) just may reduce the progression of some cancers. Specifically, in four of the seven cancer types analyzed in this real-world analysis — lung, breast, colorectal and liver — people who took GLP-1s were 38% to 50% less likely to develop stage IV cancer. The analysis will be presented at the 2026 American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) Annual Meeting, taking place May 29 to June 2 in Chicago.

In three other cancer types studied — prostate, pancreatic and kidney — patients taking GLP-1s had fewer instances of metastasis than the control group who took gliptins, a class of oral medications that are used to treat Type 2 diabetes. However, the differences for these three cancers were not statistically significant.

Overall, high tumor GLP-1 receptor expression was associated with a 33% lower risk of death compared with low expression. This was particularly true for breast cancer, in which the risk was reduced by 45%. The association of high GLP-1 receptor levels with better survival suggests that GLP-1’s actions could be protective in these cancers, which in turn suggests that GLP-1 drugs may be protective.

“We did look at the expression overall, because there’s not really a known reason on why this might be the situation, and we did notice that there is actually a correlation of the receptor expression with overall survival,” lead author Mark David Orland, M.D., in the department of hematology and medical oncology at Taussig Cancer Institute, Cleveland Clinic, said during a press briefing ahead of the ASCO meeting.

About 29 to 40 million people in the United States have diabetes, which makes them more susceptible to some cancers. This is because the metabolic dysfunction of diabetes creates an environment in which cancer can grow, including high levels of insulin and sugar in the blood as well as chronic inflammation.

GLP-1 is a natural hormone that regulates blood sugar and appetite. GLP-1 receptor agonists, first approved to treat patients with diabetes, mimic the hormone that is released after eating.

About 20 million Americans are currently taking GLP-1 receptor agonists, Orland said. Available GLP-1 medications include semaglutide (Ozempic for diabetes and Wegovy for weight loss) and tirzepatide (Mounjaro for diabetes and Zepbound for weight loss), as well as the newly approved oral Foundayo (orforglipron). GLP-1s generated approximately $132 billion in sales in 2025, a 33.5% increase from 2024. Sales of GLP-1 therapies for the weight-loss indication alone increased by 131% on a CAGR (five-year compounded annual growth rate) basis, according to IQVIA.

In the study presented at ASCO, researchers wanted to assess whether GLP-1s could prevent cancer from spreading to metastatic disease. People with diabetes are one to two times more likely to develop certain cancers, such as pancreatic cancer, and these cancers can be linked to high glucose environments and high sugar and inflammatory environments where inflammation can drive the cancer’s progression, Orland said.

“Preliminary studies have suggested that they may lower the incidence, but the effect on whether these earlier-stage cancers might progress a little bit less to that metastatic disease is limited,” Orland said.

Orland and his colleagues used the TriNetX Global Health Research Network to assess data for 10,225 patients with Stage 1 to Stage 3 cancer who had begun using a GLP-1 (liraglutide, pramlintide, dulaglutide, tirzepatide, lixisenatide or semaglutide) after cancer diagnosis. The comparison was a group of 12,115 patients who were started taking gliptins for their Type 2 diabetes after cancer diagnosis. Patients with seven cancers were included: breast, prostate, non-small cell lung cancer, colorectal, liver, kidney and pancreatic.

To better understand how the hormone GLP-1 impacts cancer, investigators looked at data from The Cancer Genome Atlas, comparing tumor expression of the GLP-1 receptor to overall survival for the cancer types. Overall, high tumor GLP-1 receptor expression was associated with a 33% lower risk of death compared with low expression. This was particularly true for breast cancer, in which the risk was reduced by 45%. The association of high GLP-1 receptor levels with better survival suggests that GLP-1’s actions could be protective in these cancers, researchers said.

Orlando said that their next steps are to conduct mechanistic studies to understand why GLP-1 receptor agonists might have a protective effect. Additionally, he said randomized controlled trials are needed to confirm findings.