Quantitative In Silico Reality Check on the Antiparasitic-Cancer-Cure Hypothesis: A Multi-Cancer PBPK and Network-Pharmacology Evaluation of Ivermectin and Fenbendazole Across Seven Solid and Hematologic Malignancies

Background.Following anecdotal reports popularised on social media, oral self-administration of the veterinaryantiparasitics ivermectin (IVM) and fenbendazole (FBZ) is being adopted by a growing patientpopulation as putative cancer therapy. Genuine peer-reviewed in vitro evidence supports anti-tumouractivity for both compounds: IVM modulates the WNT/TCF, PAK1, MDR1/P-gp and KPNB1axes, while FBZ destabilises microtubules at the colchicine binding site of β-tubulin and inhibitsglucose uptake via GLUT4 and HK-II. However, no controlled human phase II/III data exist, andthe quantitative gap between in vitro potency and clinically achievable plasma exposure has neverbeen formally evaluated across cancer types.Methods.We adapted the open-source CureNet eight-layer computational pharmacology pipeline [1] toevaluate IVM and FBZ across seven malignancies: glioblastoma (GBM), acute myeloid leukaemia(AML), triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), colorectal cancer (CRC), non-small-cell lung cancer(NSCLC), pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and cutaneous melanoma (MEL). Eachcancer was modelled with disease-specific gene sets, protein-protein interaction (PPI) topology,target proteins (with PDB structures), pathway enrichment, fold-change priors and standard-of-carechemotherapeutics. The CureNet pipeline executes ADMET filtering, target-disease overlap, networkpharmacology, empirical and (where feasible) AutoDock-GPU physics-based molecular docking,100 ns equivalent molecular dynamics, Bliss/Loewe synergy analysis, an eight-variable ODE pathwaymodel and transcriptomic herb-drug-interaction analysis. We extended this pipeline with threeadditional analytical rungs: (i) a physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) plasma-versus-IC50 reality check parameterised by published human Cmax data, (ii) an allometric oral-dose extrapolationcomparing IC50-equivalent dose against documented safety ceilings, and (iii) a composite plausibilityscore combining in-silico signal strength with pharmacokinetic feasibility.Results.Across all seven cancers, the in vitro IC50 values for both drugs (IVM 3–15 μM; FBZ 0.8–3.0 μM)lie 0.6–30-fold above the maximum total-plasma Cmax achievable at the safety ceiling, and aftercorrection for plasma protein binding (IVM 93%, FBZ 95%) the free-drug fold-deficit ranges from12.3× (FBZ in NSCLC) to 439.6× (IVM in CRC). The composite plausibility score classifies zeroof seven cancers as "promising", five as "worth further preclinical study" (TNBC, NSCLC, CRC,MEL, AML; scores 42–51 of 100) and two as "implausible at safe doses" (PDAC, GBM; both 33).The strongest in-silico signals — IVM–PAK1 (–5.2 kcal/mol) and FBZ–β-tubulin (–4.9 kcal/mol)— recapitulate the established mechanisms but cannot be reached at safe oral doses without newformulations. The triple-combination Layer-7 ODE predicts 87.9% cell death uniformly acrosscancers when chemotherapy is combined with sub-IC50 IVM and FBZ, supporting a chemosensitiserhypothesis rather than a monotherapy cure hypothesis.Conclusions.The anti-cancer biology of IVM and FBZ is mechanistically real, but the social-media "oral antiparasiticcures cancer" narrative is not supported by quantitative pharmacokinetics at any testedcancer. The free-drug plasma concentration achievable within the human safety envelope sits oneto three orders of magnitude below the in vitro killing concentration. Two specific paths preservescientific honesty: (a) intravenous or liposomal reformulation that raises Cmax 10–30-fold (mostpromising in AML, where IC50 is lowest and the BCL-2/MCL-1 axis converges with venetoclax),and (b) sub-IC50 chemosensitiser trials with established standard-of-care chemotherapy doing thecytotoxic work (most promising in CRC with FOLFOX, NSCLC with osimertinib, and MEL withvemurafenib). Until such data exist, oral self-medication at doses sufficient to match in vitro IC50 ismathematically impossible without exceeding documented hepatotoxicity and neurotoxicity ceilings

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Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Published
2026-10-29
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https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.23759529
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Computational Drug Discovery Methods
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article

Quantitative In Silico Reality Check on the Antiparasitic-Cancer-Cure Hypothesis: A Multi-Cancer PBPK and Network-Pharmacology Evaluation of Ivermectin and Fenbendazole Across Seven Solid and Hematologic Malignancies

Kamal Kishore Jain, Ankush Rai
1 links
Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Computational Drug Discovery Methods
article

Quantitative In Silico Reality Check on the Antiparasitic-Cancer-Cure Hypothesis: A Multi-Cancer PBPK and Network-Pharmacology Evaluation of Ivermectin and Fenbendazole Across Seven Solid and Hematologic Malignancies

Kamal Kishore Jain, Ankush Rai
article en

Abstract

Background.Following anecdotal reports popularised on social media, oral self-administration of the veterinaryantiparasitics ivermectin (IVM) and fenbendazole (FBZ) is being adopted by a growing patientpopulation as putative cancer therapy. Genuine peer-reviewed in vitro evidence supports anti-tumouractivity for both compounds: IVM modulates the WNT/TCF, PAK1, MDR1/P-gp and KPNB1axes, while FBZ destabilises microtubules at the colchicine binding site of β-tubulin and inhibitsglucose uptake via GLUT4 and HK-II. However, no controlled human phase II/III data exist, andthe quantitative gap between in vitro potency and clinically achievable plasma exposure has neverbeen formally evaluated across cancer types.Methods.We adapted the open-source CureNet eight-layer computational pharmacology pipeline [1] toevaluate IVM and FBZ across seven malignancies: glioblastoma (GBM), acute myeloid leukaemia(AML), triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC), colorectal cancer (CRC), non-small-cell lung cancer(NSCLC), pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) and cutaneous melanoma (MEL). Eachcancer was modelled with disease-specific gene sets, protein-protein interaction (PPI) topology,target proteins (with PDB structures), pathway enrichment, fold-change priors and standard-of-carechemotherapeutics. The CureNet pipeline executes ADMET filtering, target-disease overlap, networkpharmacology, empirical and (where feasible) AutoDock-GPU physics-based molecular docking,100 ns equivalent molecular dynamics, Bliss/Loewe synergy analysis, an eight-variable ODE pathwaymodel and transcriptomic herb-drug-interaction analysis. We extended this pipeline with threeadditional analytical rungs: (i) a physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) plasma-versus-IC50 reality check parameterised by published human Cmax data, (ii) an allometric oral-dose extrapolationcomparing IC50-equivalent dose against documented safety ceilings, and (iii) a composite plausibilityscore combining in-silico signal strength with pharmacokinetic feasibility.Results.Across all seven cancers, the in vitro IC50 values for both drugs (IVM 3–15 μM; FBZ 0.8–3.0 μM)lie 0.6–30-fold above the maximum total-plasma Cmax achievable at the safety ceiling, and aftercorrection for plasma protein binding (IVM 93%, FBZ 95%) the free-drug fold-deficit ranges from12.3× (FBZ in NSCLC) to 439.6× (IVM in CRC). The composite plausibility score classifies zeroof seven cancers as "promising", five as "worth further preclinical study" (TNBC, NSCLC, CRC,MEL, AML; scores 42–51 of 100) and two as "implausible at safe doses" (PDAC, GBM; both 33).The strongest in-silico signals — IVM–PAK1 (–5.2 kcal/mol) and FBZ–β-tubulin (–4.9 kcal/mol)— recapitulate the established mechanisms but cannot be reached at safe oral doses without newformulations. The triple-combination Layer-7 ODE predicts 87.9% cell death uniformly acrosscancers when chemotherapy is combined with sub-IC50 IVM and FBZ, supporting a chemosensitiserhypothesis rather than a monotherapy cure hypothesis.Conclusions.The anti-cancer biology of IVM and FBZ is mechanistically real, but the social-media "oral antiparasiticcures cancer" narrative is not supported by quantitative pharmacokinetics at any testedcancer. The free-drug plasma concentration achievable within the human safety envelope sits oneto three orders of magnitude below the in vitro killing concentration. Two specific paths preservescientific honesty: (a) intravenous or liposomal reformulation that raises Cmax 10–30-fold (mostpromising in AML, where IC50 is lowest and the BCL-2/MCL-1 axis converges with venetoclax),and (b) sub-IC50 chemosensitiser trials with established standard-of-care chemotherapy doing thecytotoxic work (most promising in CRC with FOLFOX, NSCLC with osimertinib, and MEL withvemurafenib). Until such data exist, oral self-medication at doses sufficient to match in vitro IC50 ismathematically impossible without exceeding documented hepatotoxicity and neurotoxicity ceilings

Zenodo (CERN European Organization for Nuclear Research)
Indian Institute of Technology Roorkee (IN)
Good health and well-being
Openalex Percentile: Top 14%
Computational Drug Discovery Methods
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