The drug fenbendazole, better known as the dog deworming medicine Panacur and by its brand name Safe-Guard, can help prevent pancreatic cancer. It is a well-tolerated medicine, and if taken at the right dosage, it is not toxic. But the fact that it has potent anti-cancer activity in animal studies doesn’t make it a “cure.” Nonetheless, it is a treatment option worth discussing with your doctor.
Originally used to eradicate roundworm, hookworm and other parasitic infections by cutting off their supply of nutrition, mebendazole works by stopping the formation of tubulin, which is both the micro-skeleton of the inner cell and a highway for transport. This causes the parasites to collapse from within, starving them to death. Riggins’s team found that fenbendazole can also do the same for pancreatic cancer cells, reducing their growth and ability to spread.
The research lends support to the theory that repurposing drugs, such as mebendazole and benzimidazole carbamate, to treat cancer can make them more effective. Riggins and his colleagues have already tested some combinations of the drugs in animal models and are now preparing to open a national clinical trial in humans.
Pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma is one of the deadliest tumor types. It is resistant to many chemotherapies and newer immunotherapy treatments, which prompt the body’s immune system to attack cancerous cells. In mice, the fenbendazole-benzimidazole combination they developed more than doubled survival rates for the disease and eliminated it in some cases. dewormer for cancer