While some studies have shown that fenbendazole can slow down cancer cell growth in cell cultures and animals, there isn’t enough evidence from randomized clinical trials to show that it can cure cancer in humans. Tippens’ anecdotal experience could have been a fluke, or there may have been other factors that contributed to his remission.
According to a 2021 press release by Johns Hopkins Medicine, fenbendazole and other drugs in the same family (benzimidazole carbamates) have been found to prevent the growth of human pancreatic cancer cells. In addition, research has shown that fenbendazole may help kill human non-small cell lung cancer cells by blocking proliferation and inducing apoptosis via p53 pathways.
Currently, fenbendazole is used as an antiparasitic drug to treat parasitic infections in dogs, cats, rabbits, and horses. The drug works by inhibiting the polymerization of tubulin, a protein that makes up microtubules. Tubulin is required for the structure and shape of cells. It is also an important cellular target for cytotoxic anticancer drugs like vinca alkaloids and taxanes.
Researchers at the National Centre for Human Genome Studies and Research at Punjab University in India have found that a broad-spectrum antiparasitic medication, currently used to treat infections caused by parasitic worms in livestock, could potentially be effective against cancer. The team found that fenbendazole, which is a type of anthelmintic, reduced the number of tumors in mice. They further discovered that fenbendazole has a similar mechanism of action to the existing class of anthelmintics and the chemotherapeutic agents paclitaxel and docetaxel, which have been shown to be effective against several types of cancer in randomized clinical trials. fenbendazole cancer treatment