Commonly used diabetes drugs such as metformin may help control lung cancer, and may help prevent it, U.S. researchers reported on November 02. Patients who had taken the drugs to control diabetes were much less likely to have lung cancer spread - which is when it becomes most deadly - the researchers told a meeting of the American College of Chest Physicians.
Metformin, an older and cheaper drug available generically, had a more powerful effect than newer drugs called thiazolidinediones, TZDs or glitazones, the researchers said.
"Our study, as well as other research, suggests an association between metformin and/or TZD use and the risk of developing lung cancer," said Dr Peter Mazzone of the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio, who led the study.
The team reviewed the medical records of 157 lung cancer survivors with diabetes. Those who had taken either a metformin drug or a TZD were significantly less likely to have advanced lung cancer that had spread - 20 percent of those who took the drugs had tumors that had spread, versus 42 percent of those who had not. "The initial trend we have seen is toward metformin being more protective than TZDs," Mazzone said.