Fenbendazole is a broad-spectrum antiparasitic drug used to treat parasitic infections in animals. It has also been found to slow down cancer cell growth in laboratory experiments and animal studies, but there isn’t enough evidence from randomized clinical trials showing that it can cure cancer in people.
In 2019, a cancer patient named Joe Tippens claimed that he was free of his lung cancer after taking fenbendazole, which he bought online and orally self-administered. This anecdotal story has prompted many patients to take fenbendazole without consulting their doctors. But research shows that it’s not safe for most people and can actually cause harm.
To investigate cancer patients’ perceptions and attitudes toward fenbendazole, we conducted four focus group interviews with 21 cancer patients (13 men and eight women) at a hospital. The interviews were semi-structured and guided by a questionnaire. The participants were asked to rate their acquisition channel of general cancer information, the quality of obtained information and their perceptions toward fenbendazole.
A previous study showed that fenbendazole inhibits microtubule polymerization in human cancer cells and induces apoptosis, ferroptosis and cell cycle arrest through the p53 and p21 pathways. However, the same study also reported that fenbendazole does not activate p53-dependent apoptosis in 5-fluorouracil-resistant colorectal cancer cells. To address this discrepancy, we developed micelles encapsulating fenbendazole and the mTOR inhibitor rapamycin to prevent the polymerization of microtubules in ovarian cancer cells. Compared with the fenbendazole and rapamycin alone, the micelle-encapsulated combination showed significantly enhanced cytotoxicity and synergistic effects on cell growth and viability. fenbendazole cures cancer