Loperamide and brain cancer
A result in a dish, not a treatment.
Posts are sharing that loperamide, the over-the-counter diarrhea medicine, “killed human glioblastoma brain cancer cells”. Short answer: it did — in cells grown in a lab dish, in a 2018 study. No study has tested it in people with glioblastoma. Taken above the label dose, loperamide causes life-threatening heart-rhythm problems, so it must not be used this way. The post we were sent also pictures two different medicines (lorazepam and valproic acid), not loperamide.
If you or someone you love has a brain tumour, the oncology team can point to clinical trials that are actually testing new treatments.
How the evidence flows
Each claim (middle), the studies that tested it (left) — green found it, red found nothing — and the grade they add up to (right). Drawn from the same records as the grades below. Tap to open full size.