Fenbendazole, or fenben, is a medication for parasites that’s used by veterinarians to treat animals. It’s been shown to be effective against some parasites, including roundworms and hookworms. It’s also been shown to have anticancer properties in lab experiments. But fenben for humans hasn’t been well-studied, so it’s not approved by the FDA for use in people. And taking it without a doctor’s supervision can be dangerous.
But a fenben for humans treatment has become popular thanks to claims by a man who says he cured his cancer with the drug and other supplements. His story has spread on social media and in videos on the TikTok app. This prompted a Canadian researcher to debunk the claim, saying that while there are similarities between parasitic cells and cancer cells, there’s no evidence that fenbendazole can cure human cancer.
Those who are following the “Joe Tippens protocol” are taking fenbendazole and other supplements to prevent cancer from returning. They may be hoping to avoid chemotherapy, which can have side effects and are worried about the cost of conventional treatments. But there’s no proof that fenbendazole is better than existing therapies, and it’s not safe to take it on its own.
Some research suggests that fenben is an effective cancer drug because it disrupts the microtubules that form around a cell’s nucleus, inhibiting its growth. Another study found that fenbendazole can stabilize the WT p53 tumor suppressor gene and enhance its cell death-inducing activity. The drug has also been found to interfere with cancer cells’ ability to use glucose as energy.
Mukhopadhyay explains that although the drug has been well-studied in animals, its safety and effectiveness in humans for long periods of time have not been established. He and his team hope to change this by submitting the findings of their latest research to the FDA.
The researchers tested fenben for humans on human non-small lung cancer cells and found that it caused partial alteration of the microtubule network in the cells and that it enhanced the WT p53 tumor suppressor genes. They then used mice to test if fenbendazole was an effective cancer treatment. They administered fenbendazole to the mice every second day for 12 days. The mice with fenbendazole showed reduced tumor sizes and weight compared to the untreated control mice.
The research published in the journal Cancer Immunology, Metabolism & Therapy follows previous work by the same authors that showed the in vitro and in vivo (animal) antitumor activities of fenbendazole. The authors conclude that fenbendazole exerted a strong tumor suppressive effect in mouse models of human lung cancer by modulating the RAS-related signaling pathway, which promotes tumour progression. They suggest that a combination of fenbendazole with vitamins could be an effective treatment for human cancers with mutations in the KRAS gene. However, this research needs further validation and testing in other animal models before it can be recommended for clinical use. The research was funded by the Department of Science and Technology.