A Metformin Clinical Trial for Lung Cancer Is on the Way

(HealthDay News) — Already the go-to drug of choice for millions with type 2 diabetes, metformin might also fight lung cancer if those patients have it as well, new research shows. Metformin appears to help boost the benefits of immunotherapy drugs used to fight lung tumors, according to a team led by Dr. Sai Yendamuri. He directs thoracic surgery at Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center in Buffalo, N.Y. There was one big catch to the new finding, however. “Our work shows that the anticancer effect of metformin is active only in the context of obesity,” Yendamuri said in a Roswell news release. “We observed longer recurrence-free survival in overweight patients who took metformin and underwent surgery.” The study was published recently in the Journal of the National Cancer Institute. Lung cancer remains the leading cause of cancer death for Americans. Almost 235,000 new cases of the illness are diagnosed each year, and more than 125,000 people die from lung cancer annually, according to the American Cancer Society. According to the researchers, prior data had suggested that metformin might have anti-cancer benefits, although clinical trials hadn’t been able to confirm this. Yendamuri theorized that could be because the benefit might only ...