Thyroid Cancer Risks With Semaglutide Trigger Safety Signal

(CTN News) – There has been concern raised about thyroid cancer among people who use glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonists, including semaglutide, as a possible risk of thyroid cancer has been raised by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), a European Union (EU) agency tasked with evaluating and supervising pharmaceutical products.

Ozempic and Wegovy are two popular diabetes and weight loss medications that contain the active ingredient semaglutide as their active ingredient.

As stated in a document published by EMA’s Pharmacovigilance Risk Assessment Committee (PRAC) on May 8, 2023, manufacturers of semaglutide, such as Novo Nordisk, AstraZeneca, Eli Lilly, and others, are expected to provide further information about the drug by July 26, 2023.

In February, Diabetes Care published the study that led to the EMA’s safety warning and published it as a paper in the journal.

It has been found in the paper that people who have been using GLP-1 receptor agonists for one to three years may have a higher risk of getting all types of thyroid cancer if they use them for this long period of time.

There has also been previous research from the year 2022 which found there was an association between agonists of GLP-1 receptors and thyroid cancers and malignant pancreatic neoplasms.

There is, however, no conclusive evidence that GLP-1 receptor agonists such as semaglutide may be linked to thyroid cancer based on the results of these studies and others.

Nevertheless, Ozempic and Wegovy are accompanied by prescribing information that informs consumers about the possibility of adverse reactions to the medications.

For example, both drugs warn that semaglutide can cause thyroid C-cell tumors in rodents, but it is unknown whether it can cause this type of tumor in people.

The warnings are further followed by warnings that semaglutide has been linked to pancreatitis, gallbladder disease, and kidney injuries in people who have taken the drug.

As a result of adverse events occurring while people are taking a drug approved by the EMA, or research that suggests there may be a connection between an adverse event and a drug, the EMA issues a safety signal.

There is, however, no direct correlation between semaglutide and thyroid cancer even if there is a safety signal.

This, however, triggers more investigations to determine if the drug is safe to use.

An Eli Lilly spokesperson has stated in a recent report by Reuters that they have previously acknowledged the possibility that GLP-1 receptor agonists may increase the risk of thyroid cancer and are currently working with regulatory agencies to study the relationship between them and thyroid cancer.

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