The National Institutes of Health confirmed on Feb. 10 that it is funding studies exploring whether ivermectin can help cancer patients.
"Ivermectin, a macrocyclic lactone discovered in the mid-1970s, plays a critical role in the treatment of a wide range of parasitic diseases in humans as well as in veterinary practice," the NIH said in a statement.
"Over the past decade, researchers have explored repurposing this molecule as an anticancer agent, following the 2015 Nobel Prize in Medicine for the discovery of ivermectin by a researcher who pioneered the concept of looking for uses beyond antibiotics for biological activity in microorganisms."
The NIH said that one of its agencies, the National Cancer Institute, is currently funding research that looks at whether ivermectin can counteract cancer.
The Food and Drug Administration approved ivermectin decades ago for the treatment of conditions caused by parasitic worms. Medicines approved by federal regulators can be used for other purposes, a process known as off-label prescription.
"Although these findings are encouraging in unraveling the multifunctional therapeutic potential of ivermectin, extensive in vivo studies and clinical trials are crucial to translating preclinical observations into therapeutic benefits for humans," one of the reviews stated.
On Jan. 30, during an event in Washington held by the MAHA Institute, which is aligned with Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., new National Cancer Institute Director Dr. Anthony Letai was asked about ivermectin and said that there has been some research indicating it could be a cancer treatment.
"If it has a signal, if it has efficacy—just, again, to frame expectations—it's not, at least on a population level, it's not going to be a cure-all for cancer," Letai said.
"However, there are enough reports of it, enough interest in it, that we actually did—ivermectin, in particular—did engage in sort of a better preclinical study of its properties and its ability to kill cancer cells. And we’ll probably have those results in a few months. So we are taking it seriously."
A preclinical study is research that involves laboratory testing. If positive results come in, then research can progress to humans.
Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, head of the NIH, said at the same event that Letai's remarks showed an openness to new ideas but a commitment to "applying the rigorous methods of science to those new ideas."
"You have to take ideas seriously, even ideas that we don't, [or] I as a scientist would find unlikely," he said.
"But if lots of people believe it and it’s moving public health, we as NIH have an obligation, again, to treat it seriously. And sometimes you learn things that you never expect to learn."