Ivermectin

That ivermectin, a veterinary and human antiparasitic, kills cancer cells and can shrink or eliminate tumours, and that its cheapness and expired patent are why it is not pursued.

Ivermectin's reputation as a suppressed miracle drug was built during the COVID-19 pandemic, driven by the FLCCC network and amplified across podcasts and Telegram. When the COVID claims collapsed under trial data, the same networks carried the drug over to cancer in 2023-2024, boosted by the "Joe Tippens protocol" community and a wave of TikTok testimonials.

Ivermectin does kill some cancer cell lines in a petri dish. So does bleach. Laboratory cytotoxicity is the first of many steps and most compounds that pass it fail in animals or humans. As of 2026 there is no completed randomised controlled trial showing ivermectin extends survival or shrinks tumours in humans. A small number of early-phase trials are underway. The large COVID trials (TOGETHER, ACTIV-6, PRINCIPLE) found no benefit for that indication, which does not disprove a cancer effect but does undercut the claim that the drug is broadly suppressed rather than simply tested and found wanting.