As dog owners know, worms can cause many health issues in dogs and can be harmful to humans as well. As such, veterinarians recommend giving your pets regular worm preventive treatments to ensure they are free of these harmful parasites. But what if you could use the same worming treatment to help your pet fight cancer? According to anecdotal evidence from people around the world, a common dog dewormer may be effective in treating some forms of cancer.
The dog dewormer in question is fenbendazole, a medication used by veterinarians to treat hookworms, roundworms, and other intestinal parasites in animals such as cats and dogs. It is also widely used in labs to test the effects of drugs on rodents and has recently been cited in a number of studies suggesting it might have anticancer properties.
In a series of Facebook and TikTok posts, a man named Joe Tippens claimed his lung cancer went into remission after he started taking fenbendazole on the advice of his veterinarian. His story has gone viral, but there is no scientific proof that fenbendazole can cure cancer.
Researchers at the University of Pennsylvania’s veterinary college have been investigating whether fenbendazole can help patients with certain kinds of cancer. Their work is based on the theory that some tumors hide from immune cells by blocking a signal called CD40, which tells specialized immune cells to attack cancerous cells. In experiments on mice, they have found that fenbendazole can activate CD40 and unleash a T cell response to cancerous cells. dog dewormer cancer