Diabetes Drug Metformin Reduces Side-Effects of Prostate Cancer Treatments, Study Finds

A new study has found that the widely-used diabetes drug metformin could help mitigate the debilitating side-effects of hormone therapy for prostate cancer patients.

Hormone therapy, which is commonly prescribed to limit testosterone production—a hormone that fuels prostate cancer growth—often results in weight gain and increases the risk of heart disease and type 2 diabetes.

However, researchers in the UK have discovered that metformin, when taken alongside hormone therapy, can halve the amount of weight gained and improve blood sugar and cholesterol levels in patients.

The study examined the effects of metformin on more than 1,800 men over a seven-year period. Findings showed significant improvements in how the body processes sugars and fats, reducing the likelihood of excess glucose being stored as fat.

By helping the body use insulin more efficiently and lowering blood sugar levels, metformin can help counteract some of the negative side-effects associated with hormone therapy.

In the UK, approximately 55,000 men are diagnosed with prostate cancer each year, and the disease claims around 12,000 lives annually.

Hormone therapy, while unable to cure prostate cancer, can significantly extend patients' lives or slow tumor growth enough for the cancer to be removed through radiotherapy or surgery.

Professor Noel Clarke, consultant urologist at The Christie NHS Foundation Trust in Manchester, hailed the research as a "landmark trial." He emphasized that while hormone therapies are effective in treating prostate cancer, they come with unwanted side-effects that impact patients' health and quality of life.

"It's great to see that a cheap and effective drug for diabetes can be used in this way," Clarke said. "I hope that this new use will be available on the NHS quickly so that more patients can benefit."