Can Fenbendazole Cure Cancer?

While the case of Joe Tippens, who reportedly used the antiparasitic drug fenbendazole to cure his cancer, has grabbed the attention of many people and spurred interest in this drug, Health Feedback cautions against the use of unproven drugs or treatments. Tippens was treated at MD Anderson Cancer Center and also underwent radiotherapy. Thus, it’s impossible to reliably attribute his survival to fenbendazole alone.

The antiparasitic medication fenbendazole, like many other drugs used for parasitic infections, has been found to slow down tumor growth in cell cultures and animals. Its effects on cancer are not understood, but it may act in part by inhibiting microtubule polymerization. This is a key step in the progression of cells through mitosis. Mitosis is the process that divides a cell into two identical daughter cells, each with their own genome. If the genomes of both daughter cells are identical, a mitotic catastrophe can occur. This is a toxic event that can destroy the cell.

Researchers have also found that fenbendazole can induce apoptosis in cell culture models and in animals. In one study, fenbendazole was given to mice with pancreatic tumors and found that it reduced the growth of these tumors. The authors concluded that “Fenbendazole’s low toxicity in human cells and the absence of adverse clinical effects indicate that it could be an important new treatment for cancer.”

In other experiments, fenbendazole was administered to cells under hypoxia. Cell viability was assessed by measuring the number of live cells in cultures sealed with permanox Petri dishes with rubber gaskets and inserted needles for the influx and efflux of gases, and then treated for 2 h with varying concentrations of fenbendazole. The results showed that severe hypoxia significantly increased the cytotoxic effect of fenbendazole, and that the toxicity reaches a plateau at higher concentrations.  fenbendazole cures cancer