Fenbendazole is a drug used for the treatment of various parasitic infections in animals. It’s been shown to slow cancer cell growth in experiments done in petri dishes and mice, but there’s no evidence that it cures people who have cancer. To prove this, a series of tests using human patients would need to be conducted.

Social media platforms like Facebook and TikTok have made it easy for nonmedical individuals to spread unproven medical information. This has led to the circulation of posts claiming that an antiparasitic drug called fenbendazole is effective against cancer. These posts have received millions of views on social media. Many have even encouraged readers to self-administer fenbendazole, which is an illegal practice and can cause severe liver damage.

The claim is based on an anecdotal account of a man who says that his lung cancer went into remission after he began taking fenbendazole, a dog dewormer, on the advice of a veterinarian. He later died from the disease. The case is being investigated by authorities in South Korea.

Among the dozens of compounds that act on microtubules, fenbendazole is one of the most potent and has been extensively studied in both animal and human cells. It has polymerization inhibitory effects on tubulin, a protein that makes up the microscopic network that gives structure and shape to cells. It also affects the assembly of dynein, a complex that transports vesicles and organelles around the cell. This complex is essential for movement of cytotoxic (cancer-killing) agents and other cellular processes such as cell division, cell migration, cell differentiation, and cell signaling [1, 2].

In a recent study, researchers found that fenbendazole causes a type of cell death called ferroptosis in pancreatic cancer cells. The team found that fenbendazole induces this type of cell death by suppressing the activity of a key enzyme in the mitochondrial energy production pathway. The scientists then tested whether inhibiting the mitochondrial function of this enzyme, GPX4, could prevent fenbendazole-induced ferroptosis in cancer cells.

When fenbendazole was administered to mice that had pancreatic cancer, the researchers observed a reduction in tumor size and weight. They found that the drug reduced inflammatory cell infiltration and inhibited the proliferation of pancreatic cancer cells. They also noted that fenbendazole reduced the phosphorylation of the RAS-related protein, SLC7A11, which is required for the formation of ferroptosis.

The researchers say that if fenbendazole is to be used as an anticancer therapy, randomized clinical trials in humans are needed to determine whether it is safe and effective. Until then, people should talk to their health care providers before making decisions to try alternative treatments. The nonprofit organization Cancer Research UK tells Full Fact that while it is important to continue research on potential new cancer treatments, there isn’t enough evidence yet to show that fenbendazole can cure cancer. Other conventional cancer treatments may be needed to complement it. In addition, it’s important to know that fenbendazole hasn’t been approved by the FDA for use as a cancer treatment. fenbendazole for cancer