Case Series: From Metastatic Cancer to Cancer-Free in Months
Dr. William Makis reports on 16 cancer patients who became cancer-free within months of starting his repurposed drug treatment regimen
Cancer is a global threat that seriously impacts human life, with more than 10 million deaths each year. An estimated 2 million Americans were diagnosed with cancer in 2024, with over 600,000 deaths.
Since 2021, the emergence of so-called “turbo cancer” (hyperprogressive disease) has been observed particularly following mRNA vaccination for COVID-19. These are new types of cancer that are highly malignant, often in young patients and rare cell types/locations, as well as tumor recurrences in patients after remission. It is thought that long COVID may also predispose recovered patients to develop cancer and accelerate cancer progression.
Dr. William Makis is a Canadian doctor with expertise in radiology, oncology, and immunology. He is the author of more than 100 peer-reviewed medical publications. In the last few years, he has stood out for his innovative ways of treating cancer using repurposed drugs such as ivermectin, mebendazole, fenbendazole, melatonin, etc. He has already actively treated thousands of patients from all over the world. You can learn more details about his work in the excellent interview that the popular Dr. John Campbell recently had with Dr. Makis.
In September 2024, a scientific paper was published (Dr. Makis is one of the co-authors), probably the first of its kind, in which a thorough review of the scientific literature on a range of repurposed drugs and metabolic interventions against various types of cancer was made. The first protocol for treating cancer with high doses of vitamin C, vitamin D, zinc, ivermectin, mebendazole, fenbendazole, and metabolic interventions such as the ketogenic diet and fasting has also been proposed.
Discovered in the 1970s and established as an antiparasitic drug for use in humans in the 1980s, during the last 5 years ivermectin has also shown high efficacy against COVID according to a meta-analysis of more than 100 clinical studies. Ivermectin has also demonstrated potent anticancer effects in in vitro and animal studies with at least 15 mechanisms of action against cancer.
Mebendazole and fenbendazole are also antiparasitic drugs with promising anticancer properties that belong to the family of drugs called benzimidazoles. Mebendazole and fenbendazole have an almost identical chemical structure and generally similar efficacy against cancer. In studies with in vitro and in vivo models, at least 12 mechanisms of action against cancer have been discovered. However, only Mebendazole is approved by the US FDA for use in humans.
On the platforms Substack and X/Twitter, Dr. Makis has published more than 100 testimonials of cancer patients, most often in stage 3 or 4 (metastatic cancer), that using treatment based on repurposed drugs, experienced fascinating reductions or disappearances of metastases and lesions. In this article, the most mind-blowing 16 cases are selected who, after several months of treatment with the protocol proposed by Dr. Makis, reached a state that is described by the medical term “no evidence of disease” (NED) or simply – “cancer free”. In the absence of randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trials, causality is a challenging task, but considering that we are dealing with not one or two but 16 different patients with severe forms of cancer, most often stage 3 or 4, some of whom were predicted by their primary oncologists to die within a short period of time, the dramatic turnarounds with complete disappearance of metastases and malignant tumors in just a few months suggest a high probability that the repurposed drugs played at least a partial role in the outcomes.
Let's review these testimonies published by Dr. Makis on his Substack and X/Twitter accounts. Regarding cancer stages (stage 1-4), read more here.
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Case No. 1
A 36-year-old mother of 4 with pancreatic cancer whose case was unsuccessfully treated by her primary oncologists took ivermectin and is now cancer-free!
Emily Ziegler faced pancreatic cancer at the age of 36.
A 36-year-old mother of four was diagnosed with stage 2 pancreatic ductal carcinoma (PDAC), which had wrapped around her blood vessels, preventing her from having surgery.
She underwent 6 months of chemotherapy, which shrank the tumor enough to allow her to undergo surgery (the Whipple procedure).
The tumor that was removed, however, was twice the size of the original tumor, suggesting that the pancreatic cancer had already overcome the effects of chemotherapy before the surgery and was growing back very quickly.
The surgeons claimed to have removed it all, but in fact they had failed to do so (the pathology report showed positive margins, but no one had removed it and no one seemed to know about it).
She had persistent symptoms, but her oncologists did not take her seriously.
Her cancer marker CA-19 rose, and 8 months after her surgery, using a CT scan she was diagnosed with a recurrence of pancreatic cancer, almost the same size as the first tumor, but her oncologists refused to treat her and tried to put her on some kind of trial.
At that point she started taking ivermectin on the advice of her mother-in-law: “my mother-in-law knew about Dr. Makis and his research.”
She took Ivermectin for three months while she organized a new cancer team to prepare a treatment for her pancreatic cancer recurrence.
During those three months the tumor STOPPED growing, was unchanged on CT, and had not metastasized (!!).
Her second (more competent) oncology team then did 6 weeks of chemotherapy and radiation with amazing results.
She is now cancer-free. What really happened here?
During the 3 months when she was diagnosed with a LOCAL recurrence of pancreatic cancer, but the oncologists refused to treat her, ivermectin definitely stopped the tumor growth.
Without ivermectin, she would have progressed to stage 4 with metastases – a very aggressive cancer.
Ivermectin stopped the growth of the tumor and prevented the tumor from metastasizing. Furthermore, Ivermectin sensitized her cancer to the chemotherapy and radiation she then received:
“They did just 6 weeks of chemotherapy combined with a little radiation 5 times a week.”
According to Dr. Makis, ivermectin kills stem cells, which allows for a cancer-free state after chemotherapy and radiation (2017 Dominguez-Gomez et al: “Ivermectin as an inhibitor of cancer stem-like cells”)
Ivermectin inhibits tumor growth and metastasis (2020 Chen et al: “Ivermectin suppresses tumor growth and metastasis through PAK1 degradation”)
Ivermectin inhibits metastasis (2022 Jiang et al: “Ivermectin inhibits tumor metastasis by regulating the WNT/b-catenin/integrin b1/FAK signaling pathway”)
Ivermectin reverses chemotherapy resistance, allowing chemotherapy to kill more cancer cells (2019 Jiang et al: “Ivermectin reverses drug resistance in cancer cells through the EGFR/ERK/Akt/NF-kB pathway”)
Ivermectin sensitizes cells to radiation cancer, allowing radiation to kill more cancer cells. (2020 Mudassar et al: “Targeting Tumor Hypoxia and Mitochondrial Metabolism with Antiparasitic Drugs to Enhance Radiation Response”)
Makis believes that ivermectin was responsible for her excellent response to chemotherapy and radiation and her now CANCER-FREE outcome!
Case No. 2
A 36-year-old mother with stage 3C colon cancer, a 10 cm tumor, and subsequent recurrence in multiple lymph nodes, achieves a negative PET (positron emission tomography) scan after 3 months.
February 2023: A 36-year-old mother was diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer, a 10 cm tumor, and underwent surgery and 6 months of chemotherapy.
September 2023: Cancer free (traditional way)
April 2024: Tumor marker CEA 3.8 at lowest level
July 2024: CEA starts to rise to 6.8
September 2024: Confirmed recurrence (recurrence) of cancer in multiple lymph nodes up to 3 cm
October 14, 2024: CEA peaks at 10.3, started low dose ivermectin and mebendazole
October 21, 2024: Chemotherapy started again, with increased repurposed drugs:
Ivermectin 1 mg/kg/day
Mebendazole 1500 mg/day
November 18, 2024: CEA drops to 3.4
December 13, 2024: CT scan shows lymph node shrinkage:
1.5cm to 1.3cm,
1.4cm to 1.2cm,
but largest lymph node 3.0 cm node remained the same.
Continued with ivermectin, mebendazole and melatonin.
Mid-January 2025: PET scan was negative!!
According to Dr. Makis, the recurrence of colon cancer was then treated with chemotherapy, ivermectin and mebendazole - a powerful combination that led to a negative PET scan.
A negative PET scan means that the cancer cells are dead, which was also confirmed by the normal level of the tumor marker CEA.
Case No. 3
60-year-old patient, stage 4, clear cell renal cell carcinoma with multiple recurrences - now cancer-free after 3 months.
60-year-old cancer patient from Florida, diagnosed with: Stage 4 clear cell renal cell carcinoma.
September 2020 - Stage 3B T3b pNx cM0, status after nephrectomy (surgical removal of the kidney).
February 2022 - recurrence in hilar nodes, confirmed biopsy, palliative chemotherapy and immunotherapy (cabozantinib, Opdivo).
March 2024 - "No evidence of disease"
July 15, 2024 - "recurrent bilateral hilar lymphadenopathy"
At that point, the patient contacted Dr. Makis:
"The doctors want to do immunotherapy again, which I am not against, but I do not believe it will completely eradicate the cancer. I am interested in the high dose of ivermectin”
So they started the following regimen:
Ivermectin 1 mg/kg/day which was increased within 3 weeks to 2 mg/kg/day
Fenbendazole 1000 mg/day
Melatonin 300 mg/day
(Oncologists did ipilimumab and nivolumab)
Results:
“The good news is that the tumors from the previous scan are gone. My oncologist is thrilled”
Dr. Makis’ analysis of this case:
The 5-year survival in this situation is 10%. This patient is 4.5 years from initial diagnosis and currently cancer-free.
The last recurrence was accompanied by 2 years of palliative chemotherapy and immunotherapy before being declared “No evidence of disease” in March 2024.
This recurrence resolved within 3 months with high-dose ivermectin, fenbendazole, and melatonin.
Case No. 4
A patient with stage 4 pancreatic cancer who was offered euthanasia (Medical Assistance in Dying, MAID) is cancer-free a few months later.
A Canadian patient developed pancreatic cancer 6 months after receiving a COVID vaccine (likely turbo cancer).
He had surgery to remove it, but 15 months later, CT scans showed a recurrence of stage 4 pancreatic cancer, including metastases to the lungs.
This patient with stage 4 pancreatic cancer was offered typical Canadian cancer care:
“I was immediately visited by social workers to discuss end of life and MAID (medical assistance in dying or euthanasia).
In addition to palliative chemotherapy, Dr. Makis’ treatment was:
Fenbendazole 444 mg/day for at least 3 months
Fenbendazole 444 mg/day with liquid ivermectin (1 teaspoon) = 50 mg for 2 months:
Results:
“The CT scan showed that all signs of cancer were undetectable and essentially resolved.”
In Dr. Makis’s clinical experience, pancreatic cancer responds very well to the combination of ivermectin and fenbendazole.
Ivermectin kills cancer cells that chemotherapy fails to kill. Ivermectin also reverses multidrug resistance (chemo resistance).
The patient’s primary oncologist was shocked by the sudden turnaround, but most importantly, this patient managed to avoid Canada’s first approach to cancer care: euthanasia.
Case No. 5
Guatemala patient with colon cancer had an aggressive recurrence – refused surgery and chemotherapy and tried horse paste – now cancer-free!
Santiago, a patient from Guatemala, was diagnosed with colon cancer in September 2023.
Before he even finished chemotherapy and radiation, the doctors discovered:
“The cancer had returned and was more aggressively blocking 60% of my intestinal lumen.”
Santiago read all of Dr. Makis’ articles and decided to treat himself:
“So long story short, we decided not to follow the doctors’ recommendations, which was surgery and maybe more chemotherapy, and to try ivermectin.”
“A month later I had another colonoscopy to find that the mass had shrunk by 67% and was now only blocking 20% of the intestinal lumen.”
“I used OVICID GEL, a 20g tube with ivermectin, praziquantel and fenbendazole. I take 17 of the 20 grams a day.”
Just before Christmas, he contacted Dr. Makis again with an email with the subject line being: “Cancer Free!!!”.
“I wanted to share some great news with you”
“A colonoscopy last week confirmed that the tumor is completely gone”
Makis admits that he had not heard of this product before this series of emails, and here he explains the dosing.
OVICID Dosage:
- Every 100 g has 600 mg of ivermectin
- Every 100 g has 22500 mg of fenbendazole
- Every 100 g has 7500 mg of Praziquantel
He took 17 g a day, which contains:
- 102 mg of ivermectin
- 3825 mg of fenbendazole (!!)
- 1275 mg of praziquantel
Case No. 6
76-year-old patient with prostate cancer stage 4 took ivermectin for four months for a single bone metastasis in the sacrum - now cancer free!
A 76-year-old man with stage 4 prostate cancer and a solitary bone metastasis in the sacrum, which had been active since September 2024.
He took ivermectin 72 mg (1 mg/kg/day) for 4 months.
As of December 30, 2024: "the metastatic lesion that showed up on my sacrum on my September bone scan is no longer detectable."
"They said I was in remission."
Dr. Makis then suggested reducing the ivermectin dose to 0.5 mg/kg/day, or even stopping it.
Case No. 7
A 40-year-old female patient with stage 4 ovarian cancer, declared "CANCER FREE" after 2 months of treatment.
A 40-year-old female patient with stage 4 ovarian cancer was being followed up at a major cancer center in the United States, and contacted him in July 2024. The patient was diagnosed in February 2024 with stage 4 ovarian cancer (high-grade serous carcinoma).
She had 4 cycles of neoadjuvant chemotherapy, then cytoreduction (surgery) on June 24, and then the plan was for 2 additional cycles of chemotherapy.
At the cancer clinic visit after surgery in July 2024: the plan was for 2 more chemo cycles. The patient then contacted Makis.
The tumor marker CA125 peaked at 86.7 on July 15, 2024 (preoperatively it was 41.7).
Although a large portion of the tumor was removed, CA125 jumped from 41.7 to 86.7, indicating rapid growth and spread of the cancer.
They started a medium-dose protocol:
Ivermectin 1 mg/kg/day
Fenbendazole 444 mg/day
Melatonin 100+ mg/day
6th cycle of chemotherapy
Two months later she became CANCER FREE. Could it be that the chemo did it? The same chemo that after 4 cycles resulted in a CA125 of 41.7? And then rapid progression immediately after surgery? Dr. Makis doesn’t think so.
According to him, the key factor was the combination of chemotherapy and the ivermectin-based protocol.
Now, as of December 21, with a CA125 of 16 (in the normal range), she has been CANCER FREE since late September.
Case No. 8
A 53-year-old patient with stage 4 cholangiocarcinoma and a 15 cm tumor declared “Cancer Free” after seeing Makis 14 months ago.
A 53-year-old Canadian patient diagnosed with stage 4 cancer (cholangiocarcinoma) metastasized to the liver in March 2023. Multiple lesions, the largest 15 cm.
The patient had chemotherapy and contacted him in October 2023:
“I was taken off the immunotherapy bag because the tumor didn’t shrink”
“The second oncologist…was worse than the current oncologist…told me my supposed mortality table and that I should look at the “end” because I’ll be lucky to make it to the summer (2024)”
“I’m terrified…I’m losing hope”
Makis replied on November 3, 2023:
“Don’t lose hope..
Ivermectin 1 mg/kg/ or 2 mg/kg daily
Fenbendazole typically 444 mg daily
Melatonin 100mg-300mg daily”
He then received an email in July 2024:
“I’m still here thanks to you :)”
The oncologists were pressuring her to give her more and more chemotherapy.
In November 2023, she started on:
fenbendazole 444 mg (panacur)
melatonin 100 mg
In August 2024, they added 150 mg ivermectin or 2.5 m/kg/day and CBD-THC oil.
And then:
December 12, 2024: “Cancer-free.”
This patient had two Canadian oncologists, neither of whom thought she would survive. They kept offering treatments that didn’t work.
Case No. 9
A 70-year-old breast cancer patient is now “cancer-free” after ignoring her radiation oncologist’s advice to stop ivermectin during radiation therapy!
Story: A 70-year-old stage 3 breast cancer patient with metastatic retropectoral lymph nodes on a PET/CT scan done in July 2024.
She contacted him in August 2024. They started
high-dose ivermectin and fenbendazole protocol in September 2024.
The radiation oncologist advised the patient to stop the ivermectin and fenbendazole before, during, and after radiation.
Makis advised her otherwise: “I would definitely stay on the repurposed drugs during radiation therapy.”
The patient continued high-dose ivermectin and fenbendazole during radiation therapy.
By the end of November 2024, the patient was “cancer-free” and had no metastatic lymph nodes.
“The breast surgeon who ordered the CT scan says I am now cancer-free—he admits that the ivermectin may have had something to do with it.”
Case No. 10
A patient with stage 4 melanoma cancer—did not heed the oncologist’s advice to stop the fenbendazole and is now cancer-free.
If this patient had taken his oncologist’s advice and stopped taking fenbendazole, he would still have active metastatic stage 4 melanoma with a much worse prognosis. He might have been dead by now.
Case No. 11
Breast Cancer Patient - After 4 Months of High-Dose Ivermectin, Patient is Cancer-Free.
She took high-dose ivermectin for breast cancer (2 mg/kg/day) and after 4 months she is “cancer-free.”
Case No. 12
Denise Payne with Stage 4 Breast Cancer is now Cancer-Free.
“I had metastatic breast cancer that had spread to my bones. I was in the hospital for most of January/February of this year (2024). I couldn’t walk without help and was in terrible pain”
“I heard about fenbendazole through a friend and decided to finally try it”
“My markers were dropping and my PET scans showed significant improvements”
“I never expected to hear so soon that I had no active cancer”
September 6, 2024: “I just found out I’m cancer free today!!”
Denise was taking 1750 mg of fenbendazole per day.
Case No. 13
A 63-year-old woman (USA) with stage 2 fallopian tube cancer is now cancer free. Her oncologist said he had “never seen anything like it in his entire career.”
A 63-year-old patient with high-grade serous fallopian tube cancer sought help from Dr. Makis.
The oncologists put her on chemotherapy, and Makis implemented:
Ivermectin 1mg/kg/day escalated to 2mg/kg/day
Fenbendazole from 444 mg/day to 1332 mg/day
A month after starting the ivermectin/fenbendazole protocol, she had surgery and had some cancer cells in the abdominal lavage.
She restarted the ivermectin/fenbendazole protocol.
A few weeks later, during the HIPEC (Hyperthermic intraperitoneal chemotherapy) surgery, they couldn’t find any cancer cells.
Here’s how the patient tells the story:
“Yesterday I saw the hematologist and he said that no one on the tumor board could figure out why the fluid didn’t show cancer.”
“He said he’d never seen anything like it in his entire career. It’s so rare to see something like that. That’s when I told him I went on ivermectin and he laughed. He hopes that Robert Kennedy Jr. can legalize this in the US and that I should share this news with other doctors and surgeons who have performed this surgery.”
“He said that his other patients are now taking ivermectin with chemotherapy.”
Case No. 14
Bladder Cancer (Papillary Urothelial Carcinoma) - “Cancer-free for the first time since 2014”
“Dr. Makis...I am writing to inform you of my most recent bladder biopsy which was negative. Since 2014, every pathology returned has been positive for low-grade papillary urothelial tumors, until now.”
“I started taking ivermectin 1 mg per kilogram. Then somehow I managed to get in touch with you to ask if I should do anything else. You mentioned 444 mg of fenbendazole”
“Cancer-free for the first time since 2014”
Dr. Makis is thrilled to have helped someone become “cancer-free” for the first time in 10 years and here is the recent research supporting the use of ivermectin and fenbendazole in bladder cancer:
2024 - Fan et al - Ivermectin inhibits the growth of bladder cancer cells and induces oxidative stress and DNA damage:
“Our study showed that in vitro and in vivo, ivermectin inhibited the growth of bladder cancer cells. In addition, ivermectin can induce apoptosis, ROS production, DNA damage, and activate proteins related to the ATM/P53 pathway in bladder cancer cells. Conclusion: Based on these findings, ivermectin may be a potential therapeutic candidate against bladder cancer due to its significant anticancer effect.
2022 Tung et al - Ivermectin induces cell cycle arrest and caspase-dependent apoptosis in human urothelial carcinoma cells:
“Ivermectin inhibited growth, regulated the cell cycle, and induced apoptosis in human UC cells. It also caused activation of both extrinsic and intrinsic caspase-dependent apoptotic pathways. Further investigation revealed that ivermectin-induced apoptosis in UC cells is mediated through c-Jun N-terminal kinase signaling. Here, we demonstrated that ivermectin can be used as a novel therapeutic agent for the treatment of UC cells.
2021 Chiang et al - Fenbendazole enhances antitumor effect: a case series
“A 63-year-old Caucasian woman presented with increasing lower urinary tract symptoms and hematuria. CT scan revealed a 7.5 cm right lateral bladder mass with extension of the right pelvic side wall and right hydronephrosis requiring percutaneous nephrostomy.
There was no evidence of metastatic disease, consistent with a clinical T4 tumor. Transurethral resection of the bladder tumor (TURBT) showed a large necrotic mass with pathology consistent with urothelial carcinoma with 85% squamous and 2% sarcomatoid histology. She was treated with accelerated methotrexate, vinblastine, doxorubicin, and cisplatin (AMVAC) for 6 cycles over 4 months along with concomitant fenbendazole (FBZ) 1 gram three times weekly.
Subsequent CT scans revealed no evidence of disease with minimal residual thickening in the right lower bladder wall. She declined to proceed with cystectomy and remains on surveillance with no evidence of progression.”
As a reminder, Dr. Makis' protocol in this case was:
Ivermectin 1 mg/kg/day
Fenbendazole 444 mg
Case No. 15
60-year-old patient with squamous cell carcinoma of the base of the tongue - cancer-free after 6 months.
This was the first cancer patient treated by Dr. Makis with a repurposed drug-based protocol.
He had stage 2 squamous cell carcinoma of the base of the tongue extending into the valvula, a 3 cm primary mass with lymph nodes in the left neck measuring 3.7 cm and 3.0 cm.
The protocol was:
Ivermectin 1 mg/kg/day
Fenbendazole 1200 mg/day
Vitamin C intravenous infusions
Along with 35 rounds of radiation and 7 rounds of chemotherapy (paclitaxel and carboplatin).
RESULT:
CANCER FREE after 6 months.
“Thank you Dr. Makis for your hard work and insight. Great news!! PET scan from January 27, 2025 shows that the squamous cell carcinoma mass at the base of the tongue and lymph nodes are gone. No other evidence of cancer elsewhere.”
“Bonus: My PSA has been rising over the past few years from 0.7 ng/ml to 3.84 ng/ml on 06/25/24.
Latest PSA on 12/28/2024 is 1.03 ng/ml. Thanks again for your help.”
Case No. 16
Acute Myelogenous Leukemia (AML) Patient Becomes “Cancer Free.”
AML Patient Diagnosed in October 2024.
Started immediately with:
72 mg Ivermectin
1000 mg Fenbendazole 3 days on 4 days off.
2 rounds of chemotherapy in November and December, and added the oral hemopill Venclexta in December
Results after 2 months:
"His bone marrow biopsy on December 24th came back clean! His blood count looks good."
Dr. Makis cited a study on the use of ivermectin in acute myelogenous leukemia.
2020 de Castro et al: "Continuous high-dose ivermectin appear to be safe in patients with acute myelogenous leukemia.”
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William Makis is just one of a growing global group of doctors who have started to treat cancer patients with repurposed drugs. New, well-designed, controlled clinical trials are needed to evaluate the efficacy and safety of these therapies. Such a long-term observational study has already begun in early 2024, with lead investigators Dr. Paul Marik and renowned breast cancer researcher Dr. Kathleen Ruddy in collaboration with five US clinics to monitor patients’ responses to various adjunct cancer therapies using repurposed drugs.
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Read here about the next 8 cases who became cancer-free with Dr. Makis’ protocol.
NOTE: This text does not contain medical advice. The sole purpose of the article is to inform the readers of new interesting insights gained from scientific research and clinical observations of medical professionals.
I am case number 11:) still cancer free, and I am still taking ivermectin, although a lower dosage now😊
This is really great, thanks for putting it together!
Is there a treatment guide I can download to use to help patients?