Mebendazole
Mebendazole is a human worm medicine that has been through two very small cancer trials: a dose-finding study in brain tumours found a tolerable dose, and a study in advanced bowel and stomach cancers saw every patient's cancer keep growing.
Overview
Reverse swing-M, a phase 1 study of 11 patients with recurrent glioblastoma, added mebendazole to re-irradiation with temozolomide, to lomustine or to temozolomide alone, and set a recommended phase 2 dose of 1600 mg three times a day with temozolomide and 800 mg three times a day with lomustine, with anaemia in 82 percent and nausea in 64 percent the most common adverse events (Reverse swing-M phase 1 2020). A phase 2a study in treatment-refractory gastrointestinal cancer treated 10 of 11 enrolled patients with individually dosed mebendazole up to 4 g a day, saw no severe adverse effects, and stopped every patient for progressive disease by the eight-week scan, four of them meeting suggested criteria for hyperprogression (Mebendazole phase 2a 2021). A telemedicine cohort of 197 patients prescribed compounded ivermectin with mebendazole reported self-assessed benefit, and the journal has placed an expression of concern on the paper while it audits the data (Anticancer Research expression of concern 2026). Combined ivermectin and benzimidazole prescribing to US cancer patients rose 2.6-fold after a January 2025 podcast (Rockwell JAMA Network Open 2026).
- A 2016 personal story, shared worldwide
- Microtubule disruption in cell lines, as for many compounds that never become drugs
- Dish concentration versus human antiparasitic dosing
- Real repurposing runs through registered trials: aspirin, metformin, statins, mebendazole
Binds tubulin and blocks microtubule assembly in worms. In glioma and other cancer cell lines the same effect stops cell division; that is laboratory evidence, and the two human studies below are the clinical record.
- A 2016 personal story, shared worldwide
- Microtubule disruption in cell lines, as for many compounds that never become drugs
- Dish concentration versus human antiparasitic dosing
- Real repurposing runs through registered trials: aspirin, metformin, statins, mebendazole
1.Mebendazole binds its target with one end and an E3 ubiquitin ligase with the other.
- AmivantamabApproved
- CamizestrantApproved
- Comprehensive genomic profilingStandard of care
- Liquid biopsy (ctDNA)Standard of care
- LorlatinibApproved
- MRD / molecular residual disease testingEstablished
- ADC payload neutralisersPhase 1
- BGB-16673Phase 3
- Bispecific ADCPhase 3
- BRUIN CLL-321Positive
- CaDAnCe-304Recruiting
- CIRCULATE-Japan (GALAXY / VEGA / ALTAIR)Active
- A clone report from blood at every treatment cycle
- A fast route to the matched drug when it is licensed for another cancer
- A multi-cancer platform trial of adaptive (dose-holiday) therapy
- A national rapid research autopsy network for end-stage cancer
- A standard evolvability score for every tumour
- A standing platform trial that assigns treatment by how the tumour escaped
Background: ADC sequencing, Antigen escape (antigen loss, lineage switch), BCG-unresponsive, Castration-resistant prostate cancer (CRPC), Circulating tumour DNA (ctDNA). Also on OnCo: Resistance atlas · Lines of therapy.
Trials
topTrials recruiting now
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A case series selected by its authors from a decade of practice cannot show that any drug worked, and the selection method has no scientific basis.
Measures the reach of the claim rather than the drug: tens of thousands of prescriptions written on the strength of a podcast, with no trial behind them.
This is the paper most often quoted online as proof. Patients reporting how they feel to the company that sold them the treatment, with 38 percent not answering, cannot show whether a cancer shrank, and the journal is now checking whether the underlying records exist.
The only completed efficacy study of an internet-famous dewormer in cancer patients found no benefit in anyone. It is the clearest human result in this whole story.
This is what legitimate repurposing looks like: a registered dose-finding trial that reports its toxicities. It says nothing yet about whether mebendazole helps glioblastoma.
Latest papers
topQuery for this drug: (TITLE:"Mebendazole" OR ABSTRACT:"Mebendazole" OR TITLE:"Vermox" OR ABSTRACT:"Vermox" OR TITLE:"MBZ" OR ABSTRACT:"MBZ") AND (cancer OR tumor OR tumour OR oncology OR carcinoma OR lymphoma OR leukemia OR leukaemia OR myeloma OR sarcoma OR melanoma OR glioma). Results are unfiltered search hits about Mebendazole, not a curated reading list.
Similar pages
not linked directly; found by shared links- Key paperIvermectin treatment for gynecologic cancers: hope versus hype
Shares Fenbendazole, ivermectin and other internet 'repurposed cures', Systematic drug repurposing, Ivermectin, No incentive to repurpose cheap drugs.
- Key paperIvermectin in cancer treatment: should healthcare providers caution or explore its therapeutic potential?
Shares Off-label, Fenbendazole, ivermectin and other internet 'repurposed cures', Preclinical, Ivermectin.
- Key paperThe multitargeted drug ivermectin: from an antiparasitic agent to a repositioned cancer drug
Shares Fenbendazole, ivermectin and other internet 'repurposed cures', Systematic drug repurposing, Preclinical, Ivermectin.
- Key paperDrug-induced liver injury following co-ingestion of veterinary fenbendazole and ivermectin for prostate cancer: a case report
Shares Fenbendazole (veterinary anthelmintic), Off-label, Ivermectin, Misinformation and unproven therapies.
- TrialICONIC: ivermectin combined with immune checkpoint inhibition in cancer (University of Florida phase 2)
Shares Off-label, Systematic drug repurposing, Ivermectin, No incentive to repurpose cheap drugs.
- Key paperMetastatic melanoma with initial ctDNA decline and radiographic response during self-directed antiparasitic use: treatment effect or spontaneous regression?
Shares Fenbendazole (veterinary anthelmintic), Fenbendazole, ivermectin and other internet 'repurposed cures', Ivermectin.
- Key paperRETRACTED: Fenbendazole as an anticancer agent? A case series of self-administration in three patients
Shares Fenbendazole (veterinary anthelmintic), Fenbendazole, ivermectin and other internet 'repurposed cures', Misinformation and unproven therapies.
- TrialIvermectin with balstilimab or pembrolizumab in metastatic triple-negative breast cancer (Cedars-Sinai phase 1/2)
Shares Recommended phase 2 dose (RP2D), Systematic drug repurposing, Ivermectin, No incentive to repurpose cheap drugs.