{"entity":{"id":"newcastle-disease-virus-alternative","kind":"technology","name":"Newcastle disease virus as an alternative cancer therapy","aka":["NDV","MTH-68","MTH-68/H","NDV vaccine"],"tldr":"Newcastle disease virus is a bird virus that grows better in human cancer cells than in normal cells, and versions of it are sold at some overseas clinics as a cancer treatment. Studies in people have been small and mostly without proper comparison groups, so no conclusion about whether it works can be drawn.","summary":"Newcastle disease virus causes a serious illness in poultry but only minor illness in people, and it replicates substantially better in human cancer cells than in most normal cells. Lytic strains have been given to try to kill cancer cells directly, and both lytic and non-lytic strains have been used to make vaccines from virus-infected tumour cells or cell extracts. Strains used in people include 73-T, Ulster and MTH-68, the last of which has been offered outside trials, notably in Hungary. The NCI PDQ summary, no longer being updated, concludes that no conclusions can be drawn about effectiveness: most clinical studies involved few patients, often compared results with historical rather than concurrent controls, and were poorly described, although it judges the number of studies suggesting value to warrant further attention. The field it belongs to is real: engineered oncolytic viruses are a recognised area of cancer research, and one, talimogene laherparepvec, has its own OnCo record as an approved melanoma treatment. That is a reason to seek out a registered trial of an oncolytic virus rather than an unregulated clinic product, whose content and dose cannot be checked.","status":"phase-2","asOf":"2026-11-04","links":[{"label":"NCI PDQ: Newcastle disease virus","url":"https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/cam/hp/ndv-pdq"}],"tags":["complementary","supportive-care","evidence:insufficient"],"related":["suns-soup-selected-vegetables","ukrain"],"cancers":[],"sections":["supportive-care","immunotherapy"],"technologies":["oncolytic-virus","alternative-medicine-instead-of-treatment"],"targets":[],"drugs":["talimogene-laherparepvec"],"companies":[],"institutions":[],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":["b-misinformation"],"keyPapers":[],"journals":[],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"principle":"Selective replication in cancer cells with defective antiviral interferon responses, plus immune stimulation when infected cells die or are used as a vaccine.","strengths":["Plausible biology shared with approved oncolytic viruses","Several early-phase human studies exist"],"limitations":["Studies small and mostly uncontrolled","Clinic products unregulated","No randomised evidence of benefit"]},"route":"/technologies/newcastle-disease-virus-alternative/","neighbours":{"technology":[{"id":"alternative-medicine-instead-of-treatment","kind":"technology","name":"Alternative medicine used instead of standard treatment","route":"/technologies/alternative-medicine-instead-of-treatment/"},{"id":"oncolytic-virus","kind":"technology","name":"Oncolytic viruses","route":"/technologies/oncolytic-virus/"},{"id":"suns-soup-selected-vegetables","kind":"technology","name":"Selected Vegetables and Sun's Soup","route":"/technologies/suns-soup-selected-vegetables/"},{"id":"ukrain","kind":"technology","name":"Ukrain (NSC 631570)","route":"/technologies/ukrain/"}],"section":[{"id":"immunotherapy","kind":"section","name":"Immunotherapy","route":"/fronts/immunotherapy/"},{"id":"supportive-care","kind":"section","name":"Supportive Care & Survivorship","route":"/fronts/supportive-care/"}],"drug":[{"id":"talimogene-laherparepvec","kind":"drug","name":"Talimogene laherparepvec","route":"/drugs/talimogene-laherparepvec/"}],"bottleneck":[{"id":"b-misinformation","kind":"bottleneck","name":"Misinformation and unproven therapies","route":"/bottlenecks/b-misinformation/"}]}}