Drugs for diabetes, inflammation, alcoholism — and even for treating arthritis in dogs — can also kill cancer cells in the lab, according to a study by researchers who tested thousands of approved medicines and experimental compounds in a search for unrecognized cancer-fighting properties.
The study, by scientists at the Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard and Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, analyzed more than 4,500 drugs and compounds collected in the Broad’s recently established Drug Repurposing Hub. The researchers found that nearly 50 non-oncology drugs killed different human cancer cell lines.
