What about the medication Metformin?

Oncologist Charles “Snuffy” Myers Transcript

Opening Title: What about the drug Metformin?

This is a drug which was released treating diabetes in 1958. So it’s been on the market for 66 years. About 6 years ago it was shown to reduce overall cancer death rates by about 50%. The ensuing years have shown it’s active against most cancers of adult life, colon, breast, ovarian, pancreatic, head and neck cancer, and prostate. And the most impressive study I’ve seen yet on Metformin was a study on metastatic hormone refractory prostate cancer, chemotherapy was the only thing remaining. And a very well done Swiss study and a routine diabetic dose was able to arrest the cancer in a sizeable number of patients and dramatically delay chemotherapy. And here’s a drug that side effects are very minimal. And diabetes and pre-diabetes is common in prostate cancer so we’ve been using Metformin to prevent diabetes.

We have randomized controlled trials now starting testing Metformin in active surveillance so the true value will only become apparent later

Closing Title: Various studies indicate Metformin may delay or slow progression of prostate cancer