Diabetes drugs may be changing cancer in surprising ways

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Source: ScienceDaily Health

Original: https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2025/12/251226045322.htm...

Published: Fri, 02 Jan 2026 13:01:28 EST

Common diabetes medications regulate blood sugar while affecting the growth, spread, or slowing of cancer[contents]. These drugs affect immune function, inflammation, and tumor biology[content]. GLP-1RA drugs, such as Ozempic and Wegovy, reduce the risk of 10 of 13 obesity-related cancers in patients with type 2 diabetes compared to insulin[1]. The research examined data from more than 1.6 million US patients with type 2 diabetes from March 2005 to November 2018[1]. Compared to metformin, GLP-1RAs reduce the risk of some cancers, but increase the risk of kidney cancer[1]. Metformin improves insulin resistance and may reduce the risk of tumors, while sulfonylureas and insulin are associated with increased risk[2][3]. The implications of these effects are interesting but still uncertain[content].