After an American cancer patient’s claim that fenbendazole, an anthelmintic used to treat parasites in dogs, cured her terminal lung cancer spread on social media platforms like Facebook and TikTok, patients started self-administering the drug. This led to severe liver injury in a patient.
Gregory Riggins and his team found that mebendazole, the active ingredient in fenbendazole, collapses tubulin in pancreatic cancer cells to starve them of nutrients. The drug also inhibited tumor growth in mice with genetically engineered pancreatic cancer.
What is fenbendazole?
A woman with advanced NSCLC, whose CEA level increased during pembrolizumab monotherapy, self-administered fenbendazole (marketed as an anthelmintic for dogs) based on information she found on social media sites that claimed it was effective against cancer. She did not experience tumor shrinkage.
Febendazole has broad spectrum anthelmintic activity, and is used in veterinary medicine to treat a wide range of parasites including giardia, hookworms, whipworms, lungworms, the Taenia genus of tapeworms, pinworms, aelurostrongylus, and strongyloides. It is also given off label to treat cancer in some pets, known as the Joe Tippens Protocol.
Febendazole had cytotoxic and cytostatic effects on EMT6 tumor cells at concentrations in vitro that are within the range of clinical doses. However, when fenbendazole was combined with radiation or the hypoxia-selective nitroheterocyclic chemotherapeutic agents, it did not alter the dose-response curves of those drugs or increase their antineoplastic effects.
How is fenbendazole used?
Fenbendazole is an anthelmintic medication used to treat parasitic infections such as roundworms, hookworms, whipworms, and schistosoma. It is a member of the benzimidazole class and is able to disrupt the energy metabolism of the parasites, causing them to die.
Intensive treatments of EMT6 tumor cells with fenbendazole resulted in a steep drop in viability and clonogenicity, whereas the cell numbers remained unchanged during 24-h exposures to low drug concentrations. However, when combined with radiation in a maximally-intensive regimen, fenbendazole did not alter the dose-response curve for either radiation or docetaxel and instead produced additive cytotoxicities.
In humans, fenbendazole is prescribed for gastrointestinal parasites such as roundworms and hookworms (also known as helminths). A patient with non-small-cell lung cancer was started on a fenbendazole regimen after finding information on social media sites suggesting that the medication could cure cancer. The patient eventually experienced severe liver injury, and stopped the self-administration of fenbendazole. She later returned to her oncologist who prescribed pembrolizumab.
What are the side effects of fenbendazole?
Initially created as a dewormer for animals, fenbendazole has generally been well tolerated by humans. The benzimidazole class of anthelmintics does have the potential to affect liver function though and this should be taken into consideration if you are considering using fenbendazole as part of your treatment protocol.
While the FDA hasn’t approved fenbendazole to treat cancer, there are reports that it can slow down the growth of cancer cells in cell cultures and animals. A team of scientists from Panjab University in India reported in Scientific Reports that fenbendazole could potentially be an effective anti-cancer drug. The drug is widely used in the veterinary industry to treat parasitic worms. It is particularly effective against flukes and lungworms. The research suggests that fenbendazole disrupts the formation of microtubules, which are proteins that make up the structure of cells. This disruption prevents the cell from establishing its shape and interferes with the movement of organelles within the cell. Researchers also found that fenbendazole interferes with the ability of cancer cells to take in glucose for energy.
What is the Joe Tippens Protocol?
When Edmond’s Joe Tippens was diagnosed with small-cell lung cancer, his doctor told him he had just a few months to live. So he began searching for alternatives to conventional medicine. He started taking the spice curcumin, he tried CBD oil, and he took mega doses of vitamin E. But it was fenbendazole, a parasiticide that’s FDA-approved to rid dogs of tapeworms, that Joe credits with curing his disease.
The claim that fenbendazole cures cancer has gone viral, especially in South Korea. The drug isn’t approved for use in humans, but Joe’s story has convinced many people that the drug is a cure.
This study interviewed 21 lung cancer patients about their information acquisition process of fenbendazole and general cancer information daily, and their perceptions and attitudes toward the obtained information. The participants were surveyed using a semi-structured questionnaire. They were aged over 50 and were currently at stages one, two, or three of lung cancer.fenbendazole cancer
