The Re Do project is striving to reduce the cost of anticancer treatment by using some drugs available for other conditions for the treatment of cancer.

The word ‘cancer’ itself causes a fear, and most of us would want to stay clear of it. The situation today is much better than it once was; at least some cancers especially in the early stages, can be cured. However, the cost for the medications is quite high and unaffordable to a lot of people. Pharmaceutical companies sometimes cannot cut the costs down since they have to recover what they have invested in developing the drug. So what about those who can’t afford the medications, especially when the cancer does not discriminate between the rich and the poor?
The ReDO project is searching an answer to the above using a simple principle. Some drugs that are available for conditions other than cancer have some anti-cancer properties as well. Developing these drugs for cancer will require a lower investment and therefore reduce the cost of cancer treatment. In addition, these drugs may be less toxic than the current anti-cancer medications. These drugs include:
• The deworming medication mebendazole
• The anti-ulcer medication cimetidine
• The anti-angina drug nitroglycerin
• The antifungal drug itraconazole
• The painkiller diclofenac
• The antibiotic clarithromycin
Pre-clinical studies indicate that mebendazole may have some effect in colorectal, brain and bone cancer, melanoma and leukemia.
The researchers from the ReDO project plan to collect the available information on the anti-cancer properties for these drugs and gather sufficient evidence so that they can undergo clinical trials for their anti-cancer properties. They have collaborated with the oncology journal ecancer to publish their data.
Reference:
Source-Medindia