Ivermectin for PC

Hi Murcao .

This is one of the existing drugs which is currently used as an anti-parasitic but is looking to be repurposed as an anti cancer drug. There is a paper published December 2024 which relates to laboratory trials of Ivermectin and some derivatives on PC3 prostate cancer cell lines with promising results.

https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2772417424000487

There are several papers evaluating its effectiveness with different types of cancer, not just prostate and drilling down on its mode of action in each of them. All of these are with cells taken from cancer patients and performed in the laboratory -not on humans.

The advantage of using repurposed drugs is that their safety has already been evaluated at a particular dose which can translate into faster approval once the clinical trials have been done.

There have been 28 clinical trials with Ivermectin in Europe but I am having difficulty in finding clinical trials with prostate cancer, so it looks as if it is one for the future. There is a phase I/II trial just starting to recruit for breast cancer announced in the last couple of weeks to evaluate dosage, safety and efficacy. Laboratory trials need to be translated into clinical trials and then go through the regulatory bodies approval system before they should be made available to everyone.

Hi Murcao and Alwayshope 

My daughter is a vet and she uses this to worm animals, pigs, cows etc, she says if a person uses this in a high dose it will strip your gut and potentially cause a lot of damage. Some people thought this was a “safe” alternative to vaccinations in Covid times as well- .(not)  it’s a wormer, you can’t evacuate a virus or a cancer with it. 

L 

A good warning BarryW . Several of the 28 trials were to see if it was effective against COVID and the theoretical lab results could not be translated into a benefit in humans. A warning should be made that no one should try any kind of 'alternate therapy' without clearing it with their medical team as it could cross react with the treatment they are being given. I am sure more trials will come along with this but until then it is best to stick to the tried and tested (in humans) regime.

 Murcao this is not a medication for humans unless you had a tropical infestation or a parasite. Then you may? have a very small prescribed amount. It is not for Prostate cancer. It’s dangerous and a myth thats unfounded.  If you took a dose meant for a horse you would do a lot of damage to your body. You need to stick to the proper drugs for your condition. It’s cheap because it’s an animal wormer. 
L

My daughter in law and son refused to have any covid jabs. At one point they were considering ivermectin. Suffice it to say , I was horrified! I would not touch this drug with a barge pole unless prescribed by a reputable medical professional for a condition where its use had been approved by NiCE or if taking part in clinically monitored and approved trials and I was desperate!

I think it is a bit of a double edge sword. Developing new drugs costs millions plus a lot of time to bring it to market hence the patent system which allows the drug companies to recover their costs and finance further development. Once a drug comes off patent there is less incentive for those companies to finance the trials needed to test the drugs for different uses so it is left to the academics to do the research and then try and find clinicians to oversee a trial. It is usually up to people like Cancer Research UK to push things like 'repurposing' of existing potential therapies through trial and approval processes usually starting with the FDA which can be a long slow process with many hurdles.

Ivermectin is a human drug approved for decades ,initially was for another treatment but doesn't mean it can't be used in another problem. 

It's cheap because it's old and it's widely produced, it's for human use ,paracetamol is also cheap.