A drug that’s usually found at your vet’s office might soon be serving humanity in an entirely different healthcare setting — fighting mammoth maladies like cancer. Fenben, available online in capsule and powder form, could help curb rogue cells that cause tumors while also minimizing radiation-related side effects.
In cell culture experiments, fenbendazole reduced the proliferation of exponentially growing EMT6 human lung cancer cells. Survival curves showed a steep decrease in cell viability at low drug concentrations, with surviving fractions becoming plateaued at higher concentrations. Neither local tumor invasion nor lymph node metastases were observed in fenbendazole-treated mice. Severe hypoxia significantly increased the sensitivity of these cells to fenbendazole, as shown by a higher plateau in survival curves.
While animal anthelmintics (fenbendazole is one example) have been used to treat parasites in animals, they’ve never been tested in humans as potential cancer treatments. A study published in 2020, however, suggests that antiparasitic medications might work as a cancer treatment in humans.
While fenbendazole for humans hasn’t been approved by the FDA, many cancer patients have reported positive results with the medication. In particular, a woman named Joe Tippens developed an alternative treatment called the “Fenben Protocol,” which involved taking fenbendazole and other natural supplements to cure her stage four brain cancer. The protocol has since become a popular method of treating cancer in the US and beyond. The Joe Tippens Protocol hasn’t been thoroughly studied, but it appears to have promising anti-cancer effects.fenben for humans