Semaglutide Weight Loss Program

1. Given the prior evidence and the results reported by Bezin et al. in this issue of Diabetes Care, it is possible that GLP-1 RAs cause a moderate relative increase in thyroid cancer, but detection bias cannot be ruled out as an alternative explanation. Thyroid cancer is a rare outcome, however, and the potential increase in absolute risk is very small.
2. Clinicians and patients need to always balance the benefit and harm of treatments in light of their alternatives.
3. In a population without specific risk factors for thyroid cancer, the benefits of GLP-1 RAs will largely outweigh the harm.

A safety signal does not necessarily imply a direct causal relationship between a medicine and the reported adverse event.

An assessment is to be initiated to further investigate whether there exists an indication of cause (a link) exists between the medication and the reported adverse event.

Semaglutide, and other drugs in the same category (glucagon-like peptide GLP-1 receptor antagonists), have been available in the market for over a decade. This is according to Andersen-Lange, Novo Nordisk’s products.

Additionally, the safety data gathered from clinical trials and post marketing surveillance have not shown any conclusive evidence linking them to thyroid cancer.

1. Obesity is a known factor.
2. Over diagnosis of thyroid cancer.
3. More research is needed to differentiate the causal relationship.