Cancer patients in the US are being given weight-loss jabs to help prevent the disease from returning – and it could become a standard part of treatment.
Doctors at the prestigious Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Centre in New York have begun offering injections of Mounjaro and Wegovy amid emerging evidence that the weight loss they trigger helps reduce the risk of cancers related to obesity returning.
Experts have told The Mail on Sunday that prescribing the jab – generically known as GLP-1s – is a growing practice across America.
Currently, 13 types of cancer are linked to obesity, including breast, colon, stomach and prostate.
Dr Marisa Weiss, founder of US-based support group breast cancer.org said: ‘People say that they want to reduce their cancer risk, but human nature means that making lifestyle changes is really hard
Dr Marisa Weiss, founder of US-based support group breast cancer.org said: ‘People say that they want to reduce their cancer risk, but human nature means that making lifestyle changes is really hard. Now we have the GLP-1s we have what many people think is a magic bullet to help fix this overwhelming tendency to put on weight as you go through life, and especially after a breast cancer diagnosis. In the future – and we’re not there yet – people are going to see GLP-1s as like a statin or blood-pressure medication for women going through breast cancer treatment.’
Around 60,000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer every year in the UK. Of those, around eight out of ten cases are oestrogen-receptive breast cancer – where the tumours feed off a hormone produced in the ovaries but also in fat cells.
Dr Sherry Shen, an oncologist at Memorial Sloan Kettering and an expert on the link between obesity, diet and cancer, says it is for this reason that studies show that those who lose weight after a breast cancer diagnosis have better outcomes – and that it’s ‘logical’ GLP-1s could help with that. It’s thought the jabs also dampen down inflammation, another cancer risk, while some women report fewer side effects from their cancer medications, including chemotherapy.
However, the NHS cannot prescribe GLP-1s to cancer patients because they are only licensed for people who are obese and have another weight-related condition, such as high blood pressure or type 2 diabetes.
Leila Gonzalez, 53, from New Jersey who was diagnosed with six tumours in her right breast two years ago
At the time of her diagnosis she was clinically obese, weighing 13st 9lb. Alongside, two cancer medicines, Leila is now taking Mounjaro with the support of her doctor
Leila, who has lost more than four stone on Mounjaro, said: ‘The more I can keep the weight off, the less likely it is my cancer will come back’
There is also caution over supporting patients who want to buy the jabs privately over fears that it could weaken the effects of certain medicines that are designed to stop tumours from returning.
Dr Caroline Wilson, an oncologist at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester, said: ‘GLP-1s work by slowing the passage of anything going through the gut, and there’s evidence already that some drugs, such as contraceptive pills, are not absorbed as well in people who take them.’
One cancer patient who benefited from GLP-1 injections is Leila Gonzalez, 53, from New Jersey who was diagnosed with six tumours in her right breast two years ago. At the time of her diagnosis she was clinically obese, weighing 13st 9lb.
Alongside, two cancer medicines, Leila is now taking Mounjaro with the support of her doctor and has lost more than four stone.
For Leila, who struggled with fatigue during her treatment, the drugs helped her lose weight when she had no energy to exercise.
She said: ‘It’s hard enough to find the motivation to lose weight and exercise if you’re living a regular life, so to do it going through cancer treatment and grief – I lost my mother while having radiotherapy – is almost impossible.
‘I don’t care if I have to stay on it my whole life.
‘The more I can keep the weight off, the less likely it is my cancer will come back.’
Several studies appear to show that the weight loss Wegovy and Mounjaro triggers may reduce the risk of cancer recurrence.
In one cancer support group, a woman said she had lost 3st 6lb and that going on Wegovy was ‘the best thing I ever did’, adding: ‘My oncologist agrees.’
Another wrote: ‘If I want to lessen my chances of cancer returning in the future I am trying to lose fat stores.’
Observational reports presented last month also claimed that weight-loss drugs could cut the risk of developing cancer in the first place by up to 30 per cent.
