Table 6.

Clinical trials of albendazole and mebendazole for human cancers

Drug	Type of cancers	No. of cases	Drug regimen	Effects	References
Albendazole	Advanced colorectal carcinoma with liver metastasis	7	10 mg/kg/day×28 days	Decrease of CEAa Two cases developed neutropenia and treatment stopped in 1 case on day 14	[37]
	Hepatocellular carcinoma	1	10 mg/kg/day×19 days	Decrease of α-feto protein, but treatment stopped due to severe neutropenia
	Mesothelioma/carcinoid tumor in the liver and pleura	1	10 mg/kg/day×28 days	WBC counts normal
	Colorectal cancer	12	800 mg/day×7–14 days	Phase 1 clinical trial to determine maximum tolerable dose of albendazole	[313]
	Gastric cancer	3	1,600 mg/day×14 days	Neutropenia occurred in 3 of 18 patients given daily dose of 2,000 mg or 2,400 mg for 14 days
	Mesothelioma	3	2,000 mg/day×14 days or 2,400 mg/day×14 days
	Pancreatic cancer	2
	Lung cancer (non-small cell)	2
	Squamous cell carcinoma	2
	Ovarian cancer	2
	Prostate cancer	2
	Biliary cancer	2
	Head & neck cancer and others	6
	Malignant diseases, untreatable, progressive, and fatal	250	Phase 2 clinical trial (albendazole or mebendazole)	July 2011 to December 2023, Dr. Frank Arguello Cancer Clinic, Mexico	[35]
Mebendazole	Adrenocortical carcinoma with liver metastasis	1	200 mg/day×19 months	Tumor regressed, but the disease progressed after 24 months Quality of life satisfactory	[370]
	Colon cancer with liver and lung metastasis	1	200 mg/day×42 days	Near complete remission of metastatic lesions in the lungs and good partial remission in the liver	[371]
	High-grade glioma	24	Phase 1 clinical trial (mebendazole 500 mg chewable tablet, 3 times daily for 28 days)	April 2013 to September 2025, The Johns Hopkins Hospital, USA	[35]
	High-grade glioma	21	Phase 1 clinical trial (mebendazole 500 mg chewable tablet, 3 divided doses with meals)	May 2016 to June 2022, The Johns Hopkins All Children’s Hospital, USA	[35]
	Low and high-grade pediatric glioma	36	Phase 1 clinical trial (mebendazole 50–200 mg/day for 48–70 weeks)	October 2013 to April 2020, Cohen Children’s Medical Center of New York, USA	[35]
	Malignant diseases, untreatable, progressive, and fatal	250	Phase 2 clinical trial (albendazole or mebendazole)	July 2011 to December 2023, Dr. Frank Arguello Cancer Clinic, Mexico	[35]
	Colorectal cancer (stage 4)	40	Phase 3 clinical trial (mebendazole as adjuvant treatment)	April 2019 to December 2028, Sherief Abd-Elsalam, Egypt	[35]
	Variable cancers	207	Phase 3 clinical trial (mebendazole 100 mg/day)	May 2017 to May 2022, Care Oncology Clinic, UK	[35]

^aCEA, carcinoembryonic antigen.