Among the scariest of these fears is that GLP-1 drugs may cause certain types of thyroid cancer.
The first GLP-1 medication (for pop in 2 diabetes) hit the market 20 years ago, however.
The following conversation has been lightly edited for clarity and grammar.
An Ozempic injection pen.© Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty
Rozalina McCoy:So as these drugs were being developed, they were also being tested.
This testing is done in animal models, typically rodents.
Ever since then, there was concern about whether this actually happens in people.
So the questions are always: Well, is that because the trials involve very low risk patients?
Or are we not seeing cancers because the trials are generally short?
So are we not following patients long enough?
Or is there really no risk at all?
So research using real world data really seeks to complement the clinical trial data to detect rare events.
McCoy:Were building on this really strong body of evidence that has looked at this before.
For one, we use only the largest data set possible to do this.
So we have people across the country with different types of insurance, different exposures, different health systems.
So there was this question of: Whats happening here?
McCoy:Exactly, because thyroid cancer typically takes a long time to develop.
Now there are, of course, aggressive cancers that do develop quickly.
Gizmodo:So what were the major takeaways?
However, when we look at just the first year, we did see an increase in risk.
So that made us look deeper into why that might be happening, whats driving it?
And we looked at the rates of thyroid ultrasound, which is how you would detect these thyroid cancers.
And this is important because we know that theres a lot ofoverdiagnosis of thyroid cancer.
So these are very low risk, very slow, if not at all, growing cancers.
Gizmodo:That obviously raises the question of why.
McCoy:I think its probably threefold, though our data cant specifically tell us that.
So as people become thinner, they may now be able to feel nodules during an exam.
The key point in this study is that weve shown GLP-1s lead to more diagnoses of thyroid cancer.
But they dont lead to more cases of thyroid cancer because its the detection thats the issue.
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Overall, where would you say that calculation rests right now?
McCoy:The way that you phrase the question is exactly how patients should be thinking about it.
People who have heart failure, they have fewer heart failure related hospitalizations.
So things like metabolic liver disease, arthritis,sleep apnea, they tend to get better.
We know that they can cause though not alwaysnausea, diarrhea, bloating.
So the key is: Will you benefit?
And will you be harmed?
So theres always trade-offs.
But if theyre tolerating it, I think they are.
Its really an individual decision for every patient.
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