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Eleonora Teplinsky, MD, FASCO, a board-certified medical oncologist at Valley Health System of New Jersey, patient advocate, and author of the upcoming book Beyond the Pink: Navigating Life Health and Breast Cancer (Sept 2026), spoke with Only Healthcare Today about ASCO 2026 meeting data showing that women taking GLP-1 medications were approximately 30% less likely to develop breast cancer than comparable women not taking the drugs. Dr. Teplinsky explained that while the observational study showed a promising signal, it was important to note that the data were not prospective and could not yet be used to recommend GLP-1 medications solely for breast cancer prevention. She emphasized that patients should consider GLP-1 medications only if they already meet current FDA prescribing criteria for diabetes or weight management, and that more prospective clinical trials are needed to understand the biological mechanism underlying the risk reduction and to determine whether it would benefit patients who don't currently qualify for GLP-1 treatment. Dr. Teplinsky also discussed the challenges of managing patient expectations around this data and the importance of continuing standard breast cancer screening and prevention measures such as exercise, limiting alcohol, and eating whole foods.
