GLP-1s May Reduce Cancer Progression

GLP-1 drugs were designed for weight loss. Now they may be showing up in cancer research in a way nobody expected.

In this clip from our episode “The Business & Science Behind the GLP-1 Boom”, hosts David E. Williams and John Driscoll break down what the 2026 ASCO annual meeting revealed about GLP-1s and their potential to reduce cancer progression in lung, breast, colorectal, and liver cancer.

Listen to the full episode here

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CareTalk is a weekly podcast that provides an incisive, no B.S. view of the US healthcare industry. Join co-hosts John Driscoll (President U.S. Healthcare and EVP, Walgreens Boots Alliance) and David Williams (President, Health Business Group) as they debate the latest in US healthcare news, business and policy.

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Transcript

0:06

you really more of an optimist about these drugs than I realized? Perhaps I've mislabeled you as a skeptic. What I think that we're qualified to comment on is the business side of it, which I find fascinating and then also the potential that they have for a lot of different indications and possibilities. And yes, I do find it very interesting and exciting but I don't want to get ahead of the trials. I think the thing that's going to be tricky is these are expensive drugs even at the current reduced cost and the scale of the utilization is still growing to your point. So it's going to be a challenge unless people can see a relatively short term roi. But I think you know where you can get dramatic and sustained weight loss. I think you're going to see that Dave. I mean I'm a positive on this one. I do think that the, and the thing that's most exciting is you're going to see because of the success a lot of research and money go towards seeing whether this similar formulation can be tuned to solve other problems. John, let's stick for another one more minute on the weight loss side of it. And we hear a lot about the GLP1 rebound rate. There was a study that showed about 60% of weight loss that was gained during treatments was regained within a year