People with type 2 diabetes usually take oral medications to help keep their blood sugar under control. One widely available inexpensive generic drug, metformin, appears to reduce the risk of pancreatic cancer. Although this kind of cancer is relatively rare, it is hard to treat and often lethal.
In a British study, 2,800 cancer patients were matched to healthy controls. Women who used metformin to control their blood sugar levels were less likely to develop pancreatic cancer. People who relied on insulin or oral diabetes drugs like glyburide or glipizide appeared to be at somewhat increased risk of pancreatic cancer. This isn’t the first time that metformin has been shown to reduce the risk of cancer. Other studies have suggested that this diabetes drug is associated with a lower risk of breast cancer, ovarian cancer and possibly even liver cancer.
[American Journal of Gastroenterology, online, January 31, 2012]
The People's Perspective on Medicine