After his father was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2003, Reed Jobs started working in cancer labs and studied pre-med at Stanford, knowing that figuring out how to cure the illness was his life\u2019s work. That led him to launch his oncology-focused venture capital firm Yosemite, whose second funding round Jobs said has surpassed its $350 million target.<\/p>\n
While Jobs is excited by the possibility of experimental cancer vaccines, he thinks GLP-1s, which he calls some of \u201cthe most impactful drugs that we\u2019ve ever made,\u201d could help fight the disease. He told Fortune\u2019s Allie Garfinkle in a recent Term Sheet interview<\/a> GLP-1s can help prevent cancer by reducing obesity, which is associated with higher risk for 13 types of cancer, according to the CDC<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cI think these are going to be some of the most important drugs we\u2019ve ever actually seen come to market,\u201d Jobs said. \u201c[They\u2019re] not only going to help people who are obese and struggling with that, but with cancer, with cardiovascular disease, with a lot of things.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n The stakes are high. The American Cancer Society projected<\/a> 2.1 million Americans will be diagnosed with cancer this year, and more than 626,000 will die from the disease, or about 1,700 people every day. The CDC estimates<\/a> that cancers associated with obesity account for 40% of all cancers diagnosed in the U.S. each year, including colon, pancreatic, kidney, and breast cancer.\u00a0<\/p>\n Jobs compared obesity to smoking, saying the longer people live with either risk factor, the greater their chances of developing certain cancers. A 2024 ACA study<\/a> found smoking caused an estimated 19.3% of U.S. cancer cases, compared with 7.6% linked to excess body weight.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThe more time you spend being obese, the greater your odds of getting an obesity-related disease are,\u201d he said. \u201c[GLP-1s] are a fantastic way for obese people to basically stop being obese very quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n